Loot
by Poisonous Slumber
Summary: Sebastian Michaelis is quite curious about a new face hanging around his apartment-and Ciel Phantomhive can't help but wonder why this man is so determined to help him out. Seb x Ciel, Fin x Bard, and a few more. M for lemon in later chapters.
1. Prologue

**[Loot]**

Disclaimer; I do not own any part of Kuroshitsuji. Be warned, there is strong yaoi later on.

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_Sebastian Michaelis, 27 and CEO of Faustian Contracts._

There were an amazingly large number of co-workers and employees swarming around him, blocking both a forward sprint to his office upstairs and backwards a quick exit out the building-all just because Sebastian Michaelis had once _again_ achieved beyond the quota for the month. He was _far_ from the nervous type. He simply didn't enjoy attention when it was so overloaded-such as now.

By now the other workers and competing companies alike should have easily realized by now that Sebastian was atop his game. He was not in any way a cheater or something of that sort with his work, he was just flat out _good_-and everyone around him seemed to notice.

_I'm currently single and living alone with the occasional feral cat or two._

Although Sebastian Michaelis spent hours of the day enjoying his own undisturbed office space as he moved all around from filing paperwork and doing unrealistic tasks under the orders of the company owner-

He enjoyed even more so to return home.

He _loved_ the feral cats that occasionally dropped by the side door of his apartment. They were friendly after a few provided meals, sometimes even allowing him to hold them as if there were tame.

The apartment wasn't _expensive_ or overly done-it was perfectly spaced for just one person. There was enough room for his own office, a bathroom, a bedroom, a storage room, a kitchen, and then some if he needed more quarters.

He was currently alone, having a while back broken up his last relationship with a certain _drama-queen_ of a partner. He didn't talk about this person often with others, knowing that his ex had a routine habit of still visiting without prior notice and making themselves rather comfortable once again in his apartment.

_Recently I've been watching out for the animals that have been going through my trash._

Up until recently, Sebastian Michaelis had never really found himself victim to his trashcans being assaulted-

He always carefully tied up his garbage in a black bag that was plenty sturdy of guarding his own deposits of trash from any creatures that dared to sneak into the garbage vicinity of the apartments. He also made _extra_ careful to secure his trashcans with bungee-cords if possible.

Only, somehow _something_ began recently outsmarting his protection over his trashcans.

In the mornings he would find his trashcans open, and sometimes knocked over with the bungee-cord still attached to the lid of the trashcan which would lie only atop of the nearby trashcan still left standing.

_I suspected the neighborhood raccoons._

The neighborhood that Sebastian Michaelis resided in wasn't infested with stray animals or anything.

Sure there were two or three feral dogs and cats roaming amongst the same streets as the residents, but never any extreme amount of strays overpopulating the area. On the other hand, there were _also_ a few raccoons and possums that somehow had landed themselves into the urban region.

And as possums and raccoons are known for spreading rabies and other deadly diseases, they also became nefarious for scavenging. They _could_ have easily been the creatures maneuvering past Sebastian Michaelis's guarded trashcans-

After all, the idea of cats or dogs not only removing the trashcan lids with the bungee-cords still intact and placing the tops on the most nearby standing trashcan seemed _rather_ unlikely. The possums were eliminated as suspects due to a lack of capability to use their paws in such an advanced manner as the raccoons.

_The true culprit however-_

Sebastian Michaelis was not amused in the least by his trashcans being so carefully taken apart by these raccoons.

He was pretty sure it was the raccoons, anyhow. He knew they were the smartest creatures that could have possibly dared to mess with his garbage.

In response he tried to use a variety of _humane_ tricks to stop them from further threatening of his garbage. This wouldn't have really been such a big deal as he wasn't the cleaning person responsible for that type of thing, it just made him curious.

He wanted to see what creature could _possibly_ have maneuvered so _vigilantly_ into his trash.

_Was a mere boy._

After a few different methods of humane tactics to reduce the raccoon problems, there was a noticeable amount of change-

The raccoons still raided his garbage, but at least the frequency had been reduced drastically. As supposed to every day of the week, there was only about two or three times instead.

Also, Sebastian Michaelis had noticed slowly a new prominent presence around the apartments-

It was a young boy.

The boy looked to be in his teens, his hair a dull bluish-gray, and eyes a mix-matched pair consisting of one purple and one blue.

The boy began to sit outside the apartments down along the pathway to the garbage vicinity, literally just hanging out on one specific wooden crate. Sebastian didn't throw out a huge black bag of garbage every day, but whenever he did he saw the boy just hanging out in no other seat but the wooden crate.

Yet somehow, he didn't find it suspicious in the least.

Sebastian Michaelis wasn't the most social butterfly as he often tried to avoid contact with other neighbors living in the other apartments, and so it didn't surprise him if the boy's family had recently moved into the area without Sebastian's knowing.

In addition, Sebastian really wasn't feeling up to searching about just to make sure the boy even belonged in one of the nearby apartments-Sebastian was a Good Samaritan and all, but taking on the responsibility of someone _else's_ child was pushing it.

After all, who was _he _to probe in a strange child's business?

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	2. Intervention

[Loot]

Disclaimer; I do not own any part of Kuroshitsuji. Be warned, there is strong yaoi later on.

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Half past four and Sebastian Michaelis still hadn't taken out the trash.

It was rainy, humid and uncomfortable outside, so who could blame him for a minor procrastination?

In a slow and trudging manner he grasped the handle of the black trash bag in one hand and his black umbrella in the other. He would have to get around to it sooner or later.

Sebastian pried open the sliding side door with whatever free use of his fingers remained. Next he slid through and opened his umbrella quickly without hitting himself in the face as the ribs and canopy bloomed open above him. Most of this was a routine thing since the weather had been ever-flimsy, switching back and forth between cold and rainy days throughout the past month. In fact, the weather hadn't made a big difference at all-

He still took the trash out.

He still had creatures going through his trash.

And now more than ever, he was noticing on his way out to drop off his trash, there was that young boy sitting on the same exact wooden crate. This time on his way out, he glanced over at the boy-just to check to see if he was continuing to stay.

Which as now normally, he was.

_Every now and again, I see him._

Ever since the boy had begun to show up, he had never once since then failed to show up daily and perched none the less on one specific wooden crate.

Not that seeing his presence wasn't becoming more normal-

If anything, it was starting to worrying Sebastian Michaelis just a _tad_.

Sebastian had multiple times walked closely past the boy, hoping to spark a reaction out of his lifeless self while he sat on the wooden crate.

But of course, no luck.

_He never talks. He never looks over._

The boy remained perfectly silent as anyone would pass by him all day long.

None of the other residents of the apartments dared to pass by him but if they did, there was absolute silence.

The boy never once during his lengthy stays had peered in any direction other than that of his feet and the ground.

A few times residents in their apartments created large amount of noise, yet he remained perfectly still in his seat-

Almost like a statue or something lifeless.

_Plus, he's always alone._

Sebastian Michaelis had yet to see the day the boy would be accompanied.

The boy could sit out in the cold all day, absolutely alone.

Never once had an adults or older folks attempted to approach the boy.

Had they been too busy to even try and converse with him?

_I've thought of trying to strike up a conversation with him, but..._

Sebastian Michaelis had only a few times the courage to come close to the child-

He was willing to attempt and make contact with the young boy.

The only problem each time, however, being-

_Our ages are quite apart._

The boy was so much younger than him.

Sure adults talked to children, but when did strange adults approach young children without it becoming a seemingly awkward situation?

Sebastian could have sworn there was such thing as Stranger-Danger, which concerned him a bit.

Not in any way had he planned on doing anything to the boy, but who knew what the boy would do if he tried to even sit down next to him-

Would the boy think he was a pedophile of some sort and scream for help, or would he allow Sebastian to start up a friendly discussion with him?

Sebastian Michaelis wasn't too fond of the idea to find out firsthand.

_Even in the rainiest of days I've seen him sit out there idly by himself._

The boy was tough-

He sat outside every day, regardless of the weather.

And every day that the boy sat outside in whatever weather there was, he wore the same thin scarf and of which seemed really substantial enough to be worn in the mix or cold and rainy days.

Nothing seemed to faze this boy, did it?

_I've seen him wait out there as long as until it gets dark._

Sebastian Michaelis wasn't stalking the kid or something.

The boy just happened to be found in his seat at any time of the day, up until it got dark.

From then on, he almost literally blended away in the dark once the lighting left.

_Truthfully, I don't know when he leaves or where to._

But Sebastian Michaelis wasn't a _stalker_.

He wasn't about to follow the boy home or to _wherever_ he was going to make sure he got there safe.

For beginners, he lost sight of the boy every time it got dark out.

_Honestly, the only thing I know about him is he waits everyday outside the apartments._

Down to the point, Sebastian only really knew one absolute thing about this kid-

He always was outside the apartments.

Nothing stopped him from showing up.

_The point is, it bothers me to watch._

In the midst of all his cognitive dissonance, Sebastian's overwhelmingly bothered state of mind was still trying to fight off the other part which strictly desired to keep his distance.

He wanted to walk away from the boy each time, his mind put at ease by knowing the boy wasn't his problem, his responsibility, his own child.

But somehow, he just _couldn't_.

He would walk away from the boy, but still worry about him- there was still just something wrong with the picture of a teenage boy sitting out every single day on the same wooden crate all by himself.

Did he not have school to attend to?

Did the boy not have someone looking for him?

Sebastian Michaelis couldn't figure out this boy.

_Does no one else care?_

It was still beyond Sebastian how other residents were getting by so normally.

How could they also pass by him when they emptied their trash and not once also be bothered?

There was no way he was the only one to be concerned.

_Something needs to be done..._

Sebastian Michaelis had never intended to be troubled by the boy.

He had never intended to keep an eye out for the boy.

_If no one else will-_

But if no one else was going to step up to the plate, then what type of Good Samaritan was he to do the same?

Without even pausing to think what would be the best way to approach the boy, Sebastian pivoted on his heel after securing his trash-he made a rather quick turn in a small puddle with his heel and splashed up some water in the process of shifting around to the boy.

The boy remained as lifeless as ever while the rain continued to soak his clothes-

Until Sebastian closed in on him.

"You know-"

_So be it._

The boy's shoulder perked up a small jerk, alert of Sebastian's presence-he didn't look up at Sebastian, but it was a start.

"-You'll get pneumonia if you stay out here like that." Sebastian said in a soft voice, lifting up his umbrella a little to show his face and holding out his free hand.

Much to his surprise, the boy looked up.

One eye of rich lavender, one eye of azure hidden under a sloppy mess of bluish-gray bangs stuck to his face. There wasn't a smile, a frown, or anything- just blankness. Emptiness.

Sebastian dared to inch forward with the umbrella-

The boy sighed and returned an out reached hand.

"If you insist."

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/Cognitive dissonance- the tension from when you are thinking one way you are behaving in another.

For example, if you continue to smoke but are aware of the possible health risks, you might continue because 'you're addicted' or 'you'll stop another time'.

To ease the tension, you might have to change your behavior or change your thoughts-you might have to convince yourself something is right or true to reduce tension, by giving reason behind your actions.

The spacing is really weird, I apologize for any cluttering of words. /


	3. From Scratch

**[Loot]**

Disclaimer; I do not own any part of Kuroshitsuji. Be warned, there is strong yaoi later on.

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The boy put up no fight.

There he was, obediently following behind Sebastian's every step back up to the apartment. There was absolute silence, and a _tad_ bit of awkwardness as the boy had no choice but to walk rather close to Sebastian as he held the umbrella up to shield both of them now from the rain.

Sebastian slid his door back open, letting the boy in ahead of himself. Immediately he put down the umbrella and began to put things in order-

"Please take off your shoes and wait there," Sebastian showed the boy, pointing to a doormat for wet shoes.

"Got it," the boy replied quickly, giving a small thumb up.

Sebastian shed off his own wet shoes and made way to the kitchen, pausing once every few steps like he was missing something…

That's right; the kid was still cold wasn't he? How long had he been waiting outside already?

"You need a towel." Sebastian whispered to the boy as if he had heard him, dashing to the left for the towel cabinet across from the bathroom.

The boy averted his gaze, his eyes curiously following Sebastian to the left-

"Something dry to wear." Sebastian mumbled as he resumed his dashing to the right on the way to his own room for a large shirt to lend the kid.

Then he watched him to the right-

"A warm meal." Sebastian reminded himself quickly as he proceeded to toss together a hot snack in record time before starting off his lap back to the left side again.

And to back to the left-

"I'll turn on the washer and dryer," Sebastian whispered in a low tone as he returned to the right and turned both the washer and dryer on to take care of the boy's traded out wet attire-the boy had been multitasking between watching Sebastian and putting on dry items, though Sebastian wasn't concerned or aware of such.

Once again back to the left-

"…and the fireplace." Sebastian huffed and kneeled down to turn the fireplace up to a dangerously high mode.

And finally, Sebastian pulled himself to his feet and turned back to view at the finished result of his work.

The boy was wrapped up in a large bath towel with a clearly too large of a dress shirt underneath-his arms were too small for his hands to reach the cuffs, so the hanging excess of the loose sleeves vaguely resembled wizard sleeves- and then a pair of Sebastian's once stored away shorts, which with the comparable size difference between him and his young guest fitted quite nicely past the knees.

Sebastian clasped his hands together and looked the boy over once or twice more, as if something was a little out of place…

_Perhaps I'm over doing it…?_

Sebastian for a split second started to open his mouth to say something, almost in slow motion as the boy's lips parted as well. It would have been the perfect moment to start up a conversation had Sebastian's hot snack not finished on cue.

The boy hesitated at the sound of the oven finishing, and then flinched as Sebastian crouched down in front of him to pass over a warm plate of apple crisp-heat was radiating off the small golden bar, a scoop of ice cream hidden behind it on one side and a silver spoon on the other.

Perhaps the kid was seeing things, but was the food baked _perfectly_ in the span of five minutes? Not that perfection held the kid back from devouring the apple crisp before him in less than twenty seconds-hardly time to savor the snack in any way besides twirling the leftover spoon in his mouth repeatedly to check for remaining particles.

Sebastian covered his mouth as he watched the boy suck down his treat-well, somebody was certainly hungry…

And without even noticing, Sebastian had been stopped from staring mid-gaze by the boy as he nervously paused like a deer in headlights. Sebastian paused also, snapping a few seconds later in response-

_He_ was making the boy uncomfortable?

_That's right, I never introduced myself…_

Sebastian quietly chuckled to himself-how had he forgotten to do so was beyond him and his usual routine formalities.

"I apologize for forgetting," Sebastian said warmly, offering out his hand to the boy slowly, "I'm Sebastian Michaelis."

The boy inspected his hand briefly before taking the spoon from his mouth.

"Nice to meet you." He piped in, returning the spoon abruptly back to his mouth for more twirling.

"It's nice to meet you-"

"Ciel." The boy whispered, swiftly popping the spoon out of his mouth once again.

"Ah, ok-Ciel."

There was an awkward moment of silence as Sebastian said no more out loud-instead he busied himself with the name Ciel. He rolled the name over and over again in his head like there was something odd about it…

"It's getting dark out…"The boy interrupted his train of thought as he whirled his body half-way around to face the sliding door.

"Yeah…"

Sebastian scratched the back of his head, picking up the used silverware and empty plate from Ciel while picking himself back up to his feet on the way over to the kitchen sink. He promptly scrubbed down the dish and spoon while spotting Ciel struggle to get to his feet in the outsized clothing and tightly wrapped towel.

"Well, let me get your clothes out of the dryer, and you can take the shirt and my umbrella."

Ciel's head snapped around.

He blinked at Sebastian in a quirky way, his face so nicely portraying his confusion.

"Are you sure?"

Sebastian fetched and bagged Ciel's originally worn clothes in order to keep them dry, and then handed over his umbrella to Ciel. Ciel stood patiently by the sliding door, gazing outside at the darkness.

"I don't mind-"

Ciel peeked his head back, giving Sebastian one last parting glance.

"-But if you'd like to drop by again, I wouldn't mind your company."

Ciel twisted back around to the door, hurrying out with a rushed excuse for a good-bye.

_From that day on, though-_

The next morning was normal-

Only for once Sebastian came home after to work to not discover Ciel sitting on the wooden crate.

Perhaps he had scared Ciel off?

Sebastian sighed and rubbed his temples. He went straight to the kitchen to cook in hopes of relaxing.

At least if he baked a cake for too long he could try over again with new ingredients, couldn't he?

And Ciel, well, he wasn't a cake…

Mid-way into mixing the batter of his cake, Sebastian hesitantly stopped-he could have _sworn_ he heard something. Was it a small tapping, or was it just him?

He turned and put the bowl of batter down to go off and investigate the noise. Maybe it was the feral cats visiting again? They certainly hadn't been showing up for a while.

And as much as Sebastian would have loved to be greeted by cats-

He wasn't.

There was Ciel standing at the sliding door, his right hand gently splayed against glass door.

Sebastian blinked incredulously.

Ciel blinked back, his face unreadable as he waited.

He _waited_ by sliding door for Sebastian.

That was certainly something different.

_He's warming up to me._

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/I hope you enjoy reading Loot, and I'd love to hear opinions as I go-

So thank you for reading and watching. 3 /


	4. False Alarm

**[Loot]**

Disclaimer; I do not own any part of Kuroshitsuji. Be warned, there is strong yaoi later on.

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It was a normal Friday after work.

Sebastian came home, got himself relaxed, and then routinely went over to the sliding door where Ciel was waiting.

Again.

_It's been roughly a week since I met Ciel._

Days had seemed to fly by since the first real encounter with Ciel a week back.

It wasn't so much that Ciel wasn't unforgettable, but…

_Strangely enough, he continues to wait for me._

Ciel didn't stop visiting. Ever since the rainy day that Sebastian had taken him in, Ciel had continued to return each day-

He daily sat, stood, and waited outside the sliding door for Sebastian patiently.

Like any other day, Sebastian opened up sliding door for Ciel whom walked himself in peacefully.

Ciel shuffled off his shoes at the doormat as he did every day, Sebastian in the meanwhile preparing a quick snack.

_It does however, make me a little curious._

But for Ciel to continuously return, something was out of place for sure.

_Why does he keep coming?_

What teenage boy repeatedly came back to an older man's apartment without a good reason?

It looked very suspicious-

Perhaps Ciel didn't notice, but it certainly was out of the ordinary.

_He keeps returning for something each time, only…_

_What is that 'something'?_

Sebastian every now and again looked over curiously at Ciel-

He tried not to draw attention to him observing Ciel, but with a troubled mind once more he couldn't help himself.

He wanted to know Ciel's intentions.

His motives.

His _reasons_ for returning each time to Sebastian-

Who was still very much so a stranger to Ciel was he not?

_I think it might be food…_

Ciel's head snapped around expectantly as Sebastian began to serve him a snack-

Today it was a homemade chocolate éclair.

Yesterday it was a sundae with layers of chocolate syrup, strawberries, and thin wafers.

Then the day before it was key lime pie.

Sebastian could understand Ciel being drawn into his cooking.

_Perhaps if I remove food-_

On the other hand, perhaps if he took food out of the equation…

Sebastian cleaned up after Ciel's snack, but couldn't help but want to know.

"Ciel, something has come up for tomorrow-"

Ciel turned back to face Sebastian, a hint of concern.

"And I won't have time for snacks…"

His concern turned to surprise. But Sebastian didn't stop there.

"But if you'd still like to come by..."

Ciel only blinked and nodded, twirling a utensil in his mouth. Sebastian waited, hoping for something just a bit more from Ciel-

"I understand." Ciel said flatly, shrugging casually.

"Well, ok."

Sebastian nodded, casually also playing along with the lie.

After the snack, Sebastian customarily walked Ciel to the door. Ciel waved good-bye and Sebastian closed the door behind him.

He waited long after Ciel's leave to sigh heavily and lean back against the door.

What had he done?

_He'll stop coming?_

On Saturday, Sebastian started off the day as if he really _were_ busy.

At ten he cleaned dishes, eleven he finished laundry, and then waited around for twelve o' clock.

After all, on weekends Ciel dropped by at twelve for snacks.

_Usually_, anyhow.

Sebastian paced himself to check the door, only to find an empty patio.

_No_ Ciel whatsoever.

Sebastian sighed, considering himself quite at fault.

_I wonder._

But how was Sebastian to know Ciel wouldn't come if there was no food?

It was _clearly_ a mistake on his part…

Sebastian turned around, heading back to his household chores. There was no _need_ to be moping around for the rest of the day over such a small incident.

Not that Sebastian would mope, but feeling a little disappointed was about right-

Up until his attention was drawn away by something more.

He could have _sworn_ he heard his front door knob rattling, making him jump and snap his head around.

"What on earth-" Sebastian mumbled as he approached the door cautiously.

And as if the moment could have been ruined in any other way, it was possible.

"_Sebas_-"

Sebastian cringed without thinking, knowing it was a terrible idea to stand within the vicinity of the door, for a _very_ unwelcomed Grell lunged out at Sebastian.

"-_CHAN!_" Grell shrieked while pouncing out from behind the apartment door at Sebastian.

Sebastian's reflexes were obviously still keen as he waited just the moment prior to Grell nearly clutching him for a sly step backwards.

The comical effect of it was corny, but the actual performance of it-

Now _that_ was perfect.

"You know how to really ruin the moment, Grell." Sebastian chuckled, still proud of having seen Grell's face meet the ground before him.

Grell gasped overdramatically, recovering and being his normal self.

"Look who's talking!"

Sebastian crossed his arms and looked down at Grell. Even though Grell still for some reason had the key to Sebastian's apartment, he often forgot who he was talking to.

"Well, here _I am_, trying to be affectionate with you-" Grell raised his voice and started to wave his arms in an angry flailing manner.

Sebastian started to turn his head away, unfazed by Grell's tantrum.

"-except you have a damn _boy scout_ at your door!"

_That_ got Sebastian's attention, especially since Grell was most definitely pointing at the sliding side door.

And at the door-

Well, _now_ there was a Ciel.

Sebastian out of usual tendency ignored Grell and let a patiently waiting Ciel.

"I'm not interrupting, am I?" Ciel quietly asked with a pause on the way inside.

"Not at all."

With Grell still in the apartment, the room seemed quite awkward-

Grell glared at Ciel whom nervously stood around to be talked to, and Sebastian simply watched both for long enough before introducing the two.

"Ah, let me introduce you two. Ciel, Mr. Sutcliff. Mr. Sutcliff, Ciel."

"Nice to meet you." Ciel mumbled softly.

Grell shrugged and gave Ciel an inspecting look over without Ciel even realizing it. Sebastian noticed the look immediately, knowing exactly what Grell was thinking.

He was most certainly _jealous_.

Not that there was anything to be jealous of, but watching Grell be frustrated was entertaining.

"Hey, I just noticed-" Grell started to point at Ciel, who cringed a little.

"-Your right eye is kind of-"

Sebastian crossed his arms expectantly and gave Grell the most disciplinary look-

His once scarlet eyes slanted into dangerous slits of hot pink and a heavy aura of fury clouded Sebastian. If his death-glare and deadly aura did not hint Grell to quickly re-think how he ended his sentence, nothing would.

"Pretty-yes, that's it...But…I need to go now-" Grell whimpered in a terrified manner.

Ciel on the other hand, had been completely oblivious to Sebastian.

"You think so?" Ciel asked softly, honestly doubting the beauty of his lavender tinted eye.

Without further intimation, Grell dashed out as fast as his legs could carry him. Ciel flinched as the door slammed, giving Sebastian a moment's time to return to a more normal state before Ciel could turn back to Sebastian.

"No offense, but Mr. Sutcliff is weird."

"None taken." Sebastian quietly chuckled.

And with no more to really discuss, Sebastian and Ciel just stood there.

Quietly, not looking at each other…

A _little_ awkward.

"Why _did_ you look surprised to see me?" Ciel asked at a normal tone, looking over curiously and tilting his head at Sebastian.

Sebastian paused, guilt washing over him slowly.

"I wasn't expecting to see you-"

"You honestly thought I wouldn't come if there wasn't a snack? How silly."

Ciel's eyes lit up for a moment, and for just a millisecond-

Sebastian could have most _definitely_ sworn-

He saw a smile.

"I suppose so."

Ciel relaxed a bit, his shoulders dropped as Sebastian began to smile too.

Smiles were contagious, weren't they?

"But about a snack though…"

"Very well."

_But in the end-_

Sebastian gave in anyway, serving Ciel another slice of key lime pie for snack.

Ciel-

Though he hadn't come on time just for the sake of not expecting a snack anyhow, he had somehow won in the end. He still was served a snack, wasn't he?

And Sebastian-

Even if he had made a huge mess already of the day, his work had not been a complete failure.

He still had made Ciel smile.

And _that-_

Well, that was quite a feat for a stranger to this boy, wasn't it?

Somehow, it was enough to make even Sebastian smile.

_I'm really a sucker for Ciel, aren't I?_

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/Hopefully the chapter was ok, I felt like it didn't fit together.

If anyone noticed, Ciel is very shy when in more than one person's presence. /


	5. Guilt

Disclaimer; I do not own any part of Kuroshitsuji. Be warned, there is strong yaoi later on.

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Getting up on time, getting dressed, and then navigating his way up the side steps beside the apartments right on schedule as he readied his hand against the glass sliding door to greet Sebastian-

Who turned his head around and returned Ciel's greeting with a wave and smile of his own.

_This man is really something._

Sebastian casually finished up his previous business and allowed Ciel inside. Ciel stripped off his shoes and scarf as usual, completely used to knowing what to do without Sebastian instructing him.

This was the mere routine of Ciel, which had been now carried on for a total of nearly three weeks.

_I like visiting, he's good company._

And much to what Sebastian had found out to be true; Ciel was only showing up on his own behalf. He enjoyed talking and hanging out with Sebastian, and that was really the reason he came back again.

How on earth Sebastian had been misled was beyond Ciel.

"How are you today?" Sebastian inquired as he set up a place for Ciel.

Ciel tried not to pause.

He _really_ hated mentioning things like _that_ with Sebastian, but he would surely call him out if he acted weird…

_The problem is…_

"I'm good."

_I don't know how much longer I can do this_.

Ciel had just lied through his teeth-with a smile on his face, just to ease Sebastian into believing him.

How sad was it, he couldn't even be honest with Sebastian after knowing him for nearly a month. Ciel hadn't been perfectly honest with him, but…

At least _he_ had a reason to lie, didn't he?

_He's really nice to me, so…_

Sebastian smiled and carried on making Ciel's snack while Ciel secretly as always took an anxious seat on his couch.

"How does a crème brûlée sound?"

"Ah…that sounds delicious." Ciel responded plainly.

It wasn't as if everything Sebastian whipped up wasn't incredulously delicious, but Sebastian gave Ciel room to choose another snack-like chocolate mousse, or tiramisus.

"Ok, and I have enough so you can bring some back for Maylene."

Sebastian must have overlooked it, but Ciel stiffened up. Ciel didn't enjoy bringing her up into conversations with him not only because most details he had described about her to Sebastian were lies-

But because he didn't like the idea of her _ever_ finding out about Ciel's doings.

It was terrible enough that he avoided telling her at first that he had _specifically_ done what she had warned him not to do, but then for him to go about normally with spending time leeching off the same guy who's trash he had gone through.

It was nothing personal and Sebastian had never found out he had done the digging. Sebastian blamed the raccoons openly and Ciel never attempted once to fess up about him and the trashcans.

He _wanted_ to tell Sebastian, but that would make a bigger mess.

"-that ok…?"

Ciel snapped back out of his thoughts, glancing back over at Sebastian who he had been most definitely ignoring by accident.

"Ciel?"

"No, no, that's fine."

Sebastian sighed and quickly checked the temperature of Ciel's forehead with his hand.

"You seem a little slow today. Are you sure you're ok?" Sebastian asked in a low tone of concern.

_I don't want him to worry_.

"I said I was fine." Ciel responded flatly.

Sebastian rolled his eyes at Ciel and jokingly ruffled his hair.

Touch had become a newly crossed boundary after the third week began-it was ok to touch the face as a joke, with only hands. Ciel wasn't the touchy-type, but he could take it.

After some more brief chat regarding the weather and Maylene as Ciel ate-he was _really_ regretting telling Sebastian a lie about living with Maylene. Yes he lived _near_ her, if you counted residing in her garage close to her. He knew her somewhat after about two years of permitted garage residence, but knowing the small things about her…he had to take a guess. He couldn't honestly say he knew too much about her personal life.

Afterwards Sebastian packed up some crème brûlée for Maylene-or at least, what he _suspected_ would make its way to her after Ciel waved bye and left.

But no, she would not get part of the snack. She couldn't find out about Ciel.

Ciel was going to hide all the evidence of this mess he had shaped. Again.

_I'll keep it a secret._

Ciel walked away from Sebastian's apartment like normal, then carefully snuck around alleyways and trashcans until he found the just right trashcan to dispose of the evidence intended as Maylene's treat.

Ciel wished it was less trouble he would have to go through to keep his self from getting in trouble again-

He _wanted_ to visit Sebastian, and he _wanted_ to be able to live with Maylene if it meant in her garage rather than being placed into a Boy's Home.

But he couldn't have both know what was going on if he wanted them both to stay by him.

_He'll never need to know the truth._

Maylene already knew all there was to know about Ciel, which he had told her to keep within confidentiality. No one else needed to know about his personal life but her, his poor excuse for a guardian.

And Sebastian-

Since he had already started to lie to him, all there was left to tell was more lies. He could no longer even _try_ to speak honestly about himself with Sebastian, because all that would come out was lies-

How did he expect to be as open with Sebastian as he was with Maylene?

He didn't. It was impossible.

_After all, the old Ciel Phantomhive is gone._

Between losing nearly all he once had in a fire and now onto the street scavenging for food behind Maylene's back, Ciel was far from being the boy he used to be.

_That_ boy was dead and gone.

_This_ boy was someone else, someone who was completely different. He hated to be touched. He feared to be around others. He was a practical hermit, had he not been spending the last two years every day outside in alleyways and such waiting for Maylene to come back from her job.

_Is he not?_

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/I hope no one became confused reading this. If you did, I promise it'll be clearer later.

And if you're asking for shotacon, it's getting there...relax, please. /


	6. Fix

Disclaimer; I do not own any part of Kuroshitsuji. Be warned, there is strong yaoi later on.

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Ciel came characteristically hopping back up the side stairs to Sebastian's apartment as usual, as it was right about the time Ciel came to visit. Sebastian awaited him now, expecting to see him every day in a very timely manner.

_It's officially been five weeks since I started visiting._

Ciel waved friendlily back to Sebastian who left the door open for him. Sebastian then left closing the door behind him to Ciel, who without verbal notification did so-

And yet Ciel had begun to consider it a trust sort of thing for Sebastian to turn his back on him. Ciel wouldn't have ever really planned to do anything when Sebastian turned his back on him, but still.

Trust was pretty nice to have with Sebastian. Honesty on the other hand-

Well, he was getting to work on that.

_For the past week though, I've been really good-_

So maybe Ciel hadn't stopped slipping little lies to Sebastian…

But he was _really_ trying to become better. He hadn't made a single stop in between going back to Maylene's and Sebastian's apartment for about a week now.

So for him to no longer make stops during his trips, he therefore never went through trashcans.

_I haven't touched a single trashcan._

He resisted the temptation-

If he had to scold the inanimate trashcans as he passed them in order to avoid falling for that mistake again, so be it. If he looked like an idiot, so be it.

He was going to be better.

_As a result, however, I'm having difficulty fighting off fatigue._

Even if it meant wearing himself down in the process, he would do it.

Being worn down was much his fault anyhow, since he _refused_ to take from Maylene, which left his meals to be supplied from Sebastian and bluntly put-the trashcans. Before he quit excavating the trashcans, he would maybe have something to drink, drop by a trashcan or two, and then sometime be fed by Sebastian.

But now-he was only eating from Sebastian, with _maybe_ something to drink. Because there wasn't much else to his already poor diet, his body was not amending very courteously in the least.

_It's really hard on me, but…_

If Ciel could just put up with the drowsiness, lack of coordination, and difficulty to focus for _just_ a bit longer, he could definitely pull through with the other problems he had to fix-

The lying, the pretending…

_I'm trying to fix my mess._

"Ah, that reminds me-"

Ciel snapped his head around the best he could, his attention span a bit on the weak side. Sebastian had turned to face Ciel, trying to keep his thought going as he scratched his chin.

"-I have some news."

Ciel's heart nearly skipped a beat. His had attention been grabbed for sure-

Seeing as now was the _perfect_ time to say something. There wasn't going to be any better an occasion to tell Sebastian.

"Wait, Sebastian. I also…have something to tell you."

_I need to come out and say it-_

Sebastian's face lit up. He was probably excited to hear anything about Ciel, though he was completely oblivious to whatever bad news Ciel had to tell him.

"Oh, ok. I'm all ears."

Ciel gulped and started to open his mouth. Maybe once he started talking the rest would come out…

"So I just wanted to say…um..."

Or not.

"Why don't you go first?" Ciel insisted.

"Well, if you're sure." Sebastian said plainly, "The raccoons have finally stopped messing with my trash. It's nice to not have to worry about that."

Ciel froze, a wave of guilt rushing over him. _He _was the raccoons that Sebastian was confused with, but not having told Sebastian yet he felt a bit terrible. He hadn't ever corrected Sebastian about the raccoons, and for him to now be glad that the _raccoons_ were gone while Ciel discreetly stopped touching trashcans behind his back, it was a little painful.

Painful to know Sebastian didn't like the raccoons-which was secretly Ciel-in the first place. Wasn't that what he deserved for doing it anyhow?

"So, what news did you have?"

"Oh…right…" Ciel mumbled quietly.

So maybe he was getting a little bit of stage fright before Sebastian, dawdling along and stalling for time…

"Well, I think that after knowing you for a while, I think it's safe to get off my chest that-"

Sebastian looked somewhat taken aback. Was he not to agree that Ciel had known at least him for quite a while? Five weeks was pretty long time for even just complete stranger to know-or _try_ to know each other.

Well, _that_ was another nice shot to his pride.

_But when he makes faces like that…_

"…that I um…" Ciel fumbled his words nervously.

The nightmare that Sebastian _really_ would not take hearing his news well was turning into a reality-

Ciel opened his mouth to conjure something, _anything_ to end this prolonged attention he brought upon himself, only...

_I just can't do it._

"I'm moving." Ciel blatantly lied with a rather disconsolate look on his face.

The lie was something else atop of his others lies he'd have to cover up for later, but the distraught look-

_That_ was genuine.

"Ciel…when did this…?"

"Today."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

That wasn't an entire lie since he had made it up in the spot that same day. Sebastian remained oblivious to the lie, petting Ciel's head out of pity.

But he remained unknowing of the lie, completely falling for another well played façade. Ciel wasn't moving at any time soon.

"It'll be lonely without you dropping by." Sebastian said with a quiet chuckle.

Ciel paused. Sebastian was a _little_ awkward to miss him, even if he was being sincere-

And Ciel, well, he was going to miss seeing Sebastian. Just a _tad_.

But logically speaking, he couldn't return to see Sebastian if he had 'moved'. He would find somewhere else to stray around.

"Well if you're ever in the area, feel free to visit."

Ciel nodded, swallowing his guilt some more.

"I don't know where I'll be yet, but I can try…"

It was a shame that Ciel's last words with Sebastian were a lie. He deserved that bitter taste of guilt.

_I really am the worst._

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Fidgety, restless, and a little bit inattentive…

Sebastian was certainly not himself, as he had been acting strange since the up and disappearance of Ciel-

He still watched the door for an arrival or anything, but…

_I know he's not coming back, but-_

There was just something about Ciel being gone that threw him off.

How could it be the lack of company when both feral cats and Grell often stopped by? How could it be an uncomfortable amount of free time when he still had plenty on his plate to do? How could it be that he would be affected so easily by his absence?

He had considered Ciel an acquaintance, perhaps a friend after roughly a month, but still…

_It's really not the same._

Sebastian groaned and glimpsed warily at the door. Sure his apartment was filled with useless items and things he wasn't going to get around to and use, but it still felt just off.

_The place feels rather empty, and well…_

Something wasn't right.

He could have cats-his _favorite_ thing in the world, line up at the door. And yet, he wasn't as excited as he usually was about seeing their silky coats or touching their precious pads under their paws.

He didn't really dwell on the thoughts so much about what sort of foods he could make himself with whatever was in his fridge, it just brought back memories of feeding Ciel-

_It gets a little lonely without Ciel._

Since he had moved and was now long gone, he certainly didn't require those sort of thoughts. They were no longer necessary, however nice they had been.

_Hoping he visits, waiting for him to come…_

He could think about him, or wait for him, but he wasn't visiting either-so why bother getting his hopes up over that?

_I'm losing it._

Sebastian plopped himself down on his couch, lounging back into his stupor.

He really needed to stop overreacting to everything like Grell…

He turned his head around to the clicking noise of his front door. Speak of the devil, out lunged Grell for another surprise visit.

Much different than usual, Grell kept his hands off Sebastian. _That_ was new.

"Sebas-chan!" Grell whined, sassily posing his hands against his hips.

"Grell?" Sebastian responded flatly.

Grell plopped himself down uninvited beside Sebastian, not noticing the glare from Sebastian.

"Here I am, going out of my way to see you-" Grell said in a low voice, poking a finger at Sebastian, "And you're still in a slum."

"It's not a slum." Sebastian refused.

"You're always looking at the door. Plus, you act sluggish and down…"

"What you're getting at is not a slum."

Grell sighed heavily and leaned away from Sebastian, starting to whisper to himself.

"Or perhaps Sebas-chan is lovesick?"

"Pardon?"

Sebastian whipped his head around, a dangerous aura emanating quickly to match the quite serious scowl and lethal pair of slit pink daggers. Grell turned around of course, only to squeak in terror before a prompt escort to the front door.

"Grell."

"Wait, I was just kidding! I mean, just yesterday-" Grell squirmed and attempted to turn to face Sebastian, "I saw that kid Ciel! He looked a little off, but it was him."

Sebastian paused.

Sebastian had only really told Grell that Ciel had moved, leaving out a few details here and there…

But still, so much for sharing secrets with Grell about Ciel, _ever_ again.

"That's not an amusing joke."

"I'm not joking!" Grell wailed while flailing his arms in every which way.

Sebastian rolled his eyes, having no real reason to take him seriously. Grell then crossed his arms and huffed-he was about to be a little brat.

"Well, he was a bit wobbly…maybe tired, and I guess he was lost…but he was sitting out by himself…"

_That_ sounded like Ciel-

But then again, that confirmation bias right there could lead him to really believe anyone similar to Ciel could be him at this point…

"You really think it's him?"

"With those weird mismatched eyes, it's pretty hard to mistake him."

Or not.

Sebastian rubbed his temples slowly. Maybe Grell was messing with him, and this was a joke. Not only had Ciel moved away, but it was raining outside-Ciel wouldn't be caught just wobbling around the place in the rain?

"And let me guess, he was over by crates or something?" Sebastian asked out of a wild guess, remembering the times he had seen Ciel waiting on the same wooden crate day after day.

Grell perked up, a look of shock and filling his face.

Something told him he had nailed it, and frankly Sebastian didn't like where this was going.

"Well…yeah. How'd you know?" Grell asked in a dumbfounded manner.

As distressing a thought it was that Ciel was out there somewhere in some sort of mess, it was much worse a thought that Grell had been the one to first find him-

Grell _never_ went to faraway places. And therefore, Ciel was probably close enough for Sebastian to help him out. Sebastian wouldn't turn down an opportunity to help Ciel, and _that_ was an issue.

"Grell, I'll be right back." Sebastian said hastily while slipping on his trench coat and carrying an umbrella on the way out.

"You can't honestly be going to find him?" Grell shrieked, riling up furiously as Sebastian ignored him and left.

Sebastian opened up his umbrella on the way outside, contemplating the most likely place to find Ciel, _should_ he still be wherever Grell had seen him. He would have asked Grell for directions had he not probably ripped Sebastian's head off jealously at the idea Sebastian cared for someone that was not in fact Grell.

The only place Grell would be near crates outside…

The supermarket? They probably had an alleyway on the side with crates or something of the like. The place couldn't be the bank, and it certainly wasn't an alleyway near Grell's workplace seeing as there wasn't one. It really couldn't be the hair salon or the doctor's office, because Grell's doctor was in the same building as Sebastian's and there was nothing but a dumpster behind the building.

Which meant unless Grell had gone to a completely new store where there were crates on the side of the place, it was certainly the supermarket.

Sebastian slipped into his car, making his way down to the supermarket. If Ciel was ok and this was nothing serious, Sebastian would just slip back to whatever he was doing. If he was worrying over nothing, all the better.

_I hope I'm overreacting._

He parked relatively close in the parking lot without being as awkward as he felt. After re-opening the umbrella he sloshed through the rain toward the alleyway alongside the left from the supermarket, trying to look out for anyone at all.

With whatever luck have he-

There was Ciel, sitting on a crate none the less as before.

Upon coming closer up stared a just as confused Ciel as was he.

_I really hope this is a misunderstanding._

There was an awkward pause between them. Sebastian not only had come to save Ciel once more, but Ciel was just as Sebastian had found him all those previous times before inviting him in.

"Why are _you_ here?" They both asked in such unison it was beyond abnormal.

Sebastian looked up at the sky, then back at Ciel. Ciel almost skittishly removed himself off the crate, yet still holding to the crate.

"You're really going to get sick if you stay in this heavy rain." Sebastian reminded him quietly.

"You don't have to worry about me; I was just on my way back to Maylene's." Ciel countered as he wobbled a little bit unstably away.

So not only was it raining and Ciel would get sick, but he seemed rather dizzy or something as Grell had described. Judging by the way his walking pattern was at this rate, Ciel would most _certainly_ run into trouble if he had to cross the street or something on the way home.

"Ciel, maybe you should let me drive you…" Sebastian warily suggested, concerned with the worst things bound to happen to Ciel.

"No, no, I can handle…" Ciel assured him in a slurry voice, wavering side to side as he walked.

Sebastian carefully watched as Ciel attempted to walk away-which clearly was not successful as Sebastian intervened seconds before an obvious trip from Ciel. He caught Ciel by the shoulders, trying not to grip too hard for support.

"You were saying?"

"Just this once." Ciel warned him.

Once in the Sebastian's car Ciel allowed himself to be buckled in, yet refused to converse in the car. Sebastian let him be as he was without asking further questions.

After all, who was _he_ to start playing twenty questions with the Ciel he had nicely managed to maneuver into his car that didn't want to be there to begin with?

Ciel didn't look at him, only the road. He must have been still upset over something.

_What could I possibly have done to make him so distanced?_

"You can let me out here; she's just across the street." Ciel told him plainly.

Sebastian complied and parked. He let Ciel outside the car, but suggested he wait for him.

"Let me get my umbrella and I'll at least walk you over." Sebastian suggested after watching one or two hurried automobiles drive by close.

"I can cross just fine. I've done this plenty of times and-" Ciel said casually without the common sense to watch for the van coming behind him.

Sebastian quickly hauled him backwards under the arms, receiving a squirm from the unaware Ciel.

"Sebastian, what-"

The van sped by swiftly having Ciel out of the way. Ciel paused minus more complaining, allowing Sebastian to guide him to the other side of the street. At the front of the house Ciel plainly pointed out Maylene's.

"This is it."

Much to Ciel's surprise, Sebastian knocked on the door-

If he couldn't trust Ciel to cross the street safely, how on earth did he know this was even the right place? Sure a very flustered young woman opened the door but he had never met Maylene in person so how was he to know?

"Ah-Ciel and…um?"

"Sebastian Michaelis. I was just dropping him-"

"Nonsense! It's pouring out there and you'll get a cold." She insisted, shoving both Sebastian and Ciel inside the house.

In no time flat the young woman rushed to get a towel for each, slipping something to Ciel. He looked down and away, clearly uncomfortable being even in the room.

"Sorry about that, I'm Maylene. I guess you've already met Ciel, but…I need to borrow him for a quick word."

Ciel jolted, and Sebastian practically overlooked it. Maylene took him into another room, presumably the kitchen to talk. He waited awkwardly in place for a whole fifteen minutes for any sign of either Maylene or Ciel.

Maylene wasn't smiling when she approached Sebastian.

"Mr. Michaelis, if I could…can I have a word with you?"

"Of course. What would you like to talk about?"

"Well, it's mostly…about Ciel."

She still wasn't smiling, and that should have been his cue to panic.

"But please, understand that he's a very good kid! He just has an odd way of trying to keep others from worrying…and so sometimes he hides things or lies…but he really means no harm! I mean, I just spoke with Ciel and he told me about this mess of lies, so I thought you should know since he's not feeling too good."

Out of all the jumbled things Maylene had just told him, he found himself more interested in Ciel not doing so well.

"What happened to him?"

"It sounds bad, but he practically ran away for a week, so he's not doing well." Maylene said in a low tone.

Running away sounded rather un-Ciel like, and Sebastian was a bit curious rather than anything.

"What else did he do?"

"Well, let's see…"

_I should be mad he lied, but-_

"There was trashcan digging-such as yours…and I guess he told you I'm his guardian, which I'm not…He resides in my garage, but I to take care of him when he lets me. He doesn't really have anything right now, like belongings, or family so…" Maylene said in a nervously trembling voice.

Sebastian paused. Well, _that_ certainly explained a lot of things, like the sudden end to the 'raccoon' problem. It shouldn't have been amusing to have been fooled.

"I see, well-" Sebastian stopped to smile charismatically and look seriously, "After being around Ciel for such a long time, I would be honored if you and Ciel both allowed me to take care of him. I don't mean to insult you, but I do believe I can handle things very well."

Sebastian wasn't the type of person to turn back on his word, but even _he_ found himself a bit confused. He _actually_ meant it.

_Instead I find myself feeling the exact opposite._

"W-wait! That's a lot of responsibility!" Maylene exclaimed.

To dig himself further into that same hole, Sebastian didn't stop there.

"I already have a doctor and a dentist…there's enough room that he can have his own room. I'd make absolute sure he is clean and fed, plus I'm _very_ financially stable so sending him to a school and covering any other things is of no hassle to me."

Sebastian would have even gawked over hearing what he had just said, had Maylene not done enough gawking for the two of them.

"How impressive! Now, if only…he would agree. It might be better for him." Maylene whispered painstakingly.

How had Sebastian ever gotten in talking such big plans about Ciel?

Ciel didn't want to talk to Sebastian in person, nor would he probably want to see his face for quite a while. Sebastian didn't blame him, hadn't he just embarrassed him enough after dragging him to Maylene and then to be pulled into talking about something very sensitive if even Sebastian couldn't ease it out of him.

_I don't want to force Ciel, but-_

Well, he had created somewhat of a mess himself.

Sebastian had better leave before he proposed anymore ideas that might make him seem any creepier to have interest in seeing Ciel.

"Well, please take care Maylene."

"O-oh, yes! I will thank you."

Without further ado, Sebastian waved to Maylene and left. He would have wanted to wave to Ciel, but he wasn't even feeling well enough for that…

Sebastian got maybe a few steps out of the house before halting in his tracks-

There was an abrupt jerk on the fabric of his trench coat. He turned around and looked.

Ciel was clutching onto his coat fabric. Sebastian opened his mouth to warn him about returning inside had Ciel for once not cut _him_ off.

"You _idiot-_to leave with just saying that, then not even saying good-bye-what are you _playing_?" Ciel snapped, angrily tugging the fabric by means of interrogation.

Sebastian was incredibly taken aback. _Never_ had he seen Ciel angry.

He held up his hands defensively before himself against Ciel.

"Ciel, I wasn't messing around-I wouldn't joke about that sort of thing."

"Why didn't you ask me to my face-?"

To his _face_-was that really what Sebastian had gotten him so worked up over? Maylene was going to deliver his offer to Ciel seeing as Ciel was not feeling well, but if Ciel was so compelled despite being under the weather to hear Sebastian at the very least talk to him one last time-

He would allow him that.

Sebastian firmly took both sides of Ciel's face within his hands and sternly looked at Ciel.

"Very well. Then would _you_, Ciel, be interested in living with me?"

Ciel paused, his cheeks heating up quickly between Sebastian's hands. Ciel nervously detached his hands from his face, holding them away for a while.

"S-Sebastian, you…you…"

Ciel whipped his head away, averting his gaze giddily from Sebastian in a hurry.

"_Idiot_. I wouldn't have chased you down for nothing." Ciel said flatly to Sebastian.

Sebastian blinked hesitantly, making sense of what he was hearing.

The same Ciel who had acknowledged doing all those things was the same child who Sebastian had admittedly grown rather fond of over roughly a month-

_Should he wish to come out of his own will that would be something wouldn't it?_

Sebastian wasn't about to pass up taking care of Ciel when he seemed to need him just as much.

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/I couldn't stand the idea of Ciel's part being a cliffhanger, it sounded like something even more devastating could possibly happen to him.

And I'm sure when Grell suggested Sebastian might be lovesick, _someone_ squealed "Yes!" into their screen. /


	7. Moving In

Disclaimer; I do not own any part of Kuroshitsuji. Be warned, there is strong yaoi later on.

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How things moved along so hastily was quite the mystery-

Here was Sebastian guiding Ciel cautiously up to his apartment through the front door of his entrance, which Ciel had never really experienced as previously Ciel had only known to use the side door…

"Right this way." Sebastian whispered to Ciel, firmly leading him up stairs and toward the front door of his apartment.

Ciel slowly edged forward when moved with Sebastian's help. He _wanted_ to come along with Sebastian, but he didn't really plan to be so nervous about coming through the front.

_If I seem wary at all-_

Once to the door, Sebastian nudged Ciel in and closed the door slowly behind them. He stepped ahead of Ciel, putting an outreached hand to Ciel.

"So let me show you to your room."

Ciel followed behind him again skittishly. He felt maybe a _little_ of place, but didn't say anything.

"Your room will be between the study and the bathroom. My room is on the other side of the bathroom if you ever need me." Sebastian said while gesturing to all the room door that looked the same.

Ciel curiously poked his head inside his soon-to-be room. He hadn't had a real room of his own in a long time. He felt a weak smile coming on.

"I like it." Ciel piped in while turning back to Sebastian.

A warm smile formed along Sebastian's lips as he jokingly ruffled Ciel's hair. Ciel closed his eyes and partially blushed...

"I'm glad to hear it, now…"

A loud growling noise erupted from Ciel's stomach. Both Sebastian and Ciel jumped; unaware his stomach was one step ahead of Sebastian, who then laughed it off as he made his way to the kitchen.

"Let's get you something to eat, shall we?"

Ciel stared plainly at his stomach. When _was_ the last time he ate?

Sebastian whipped up quickly a round of pancakes and bacon for Ciel with a side cup of milk-

Breakfast for dinner, which Ciel nearly inhaled out of hunger.

"You were really starving, huh?" Sebastian chuckled.

Ciel sighed and laid his head down on the table. He was actually _full_.

"I'll start the bath for you, and then…I'll wash your clothes and you can sleep in some of my clothes for tonight, ok?"

Ciel looked before him, already laid out assortments of bath accessories on the table. It was a wonder how Sebastian ever moved around so quickly without anyone probably noticing. Ciel picked himself up, scooping the bath things with him.

"I don't think you missed anything." Ciel said flatly, staring down at his occupied arms.

Sebastian promptly warmed up his enormous tub with water for Ciel, leaving Ciel with clothes to wear for the night before allowing Ciel to wash himself in privacy. Ciel cautiously stripped in front of the tub, gazing into the lukewarm water. He fit into the tub with superfluous space to spare. The tub was _much_ too large for just one person to fill up by themselves, even if Sebastian was rather tall…

After a relaxing bath, Ciel crawled out of the tub and squirmed into borrowed clothes from Sebastian. He didn't mind wearing Sebastian's clothes, but being in just his under garments and a large shirt seemed a little…_weird_?

"I'm done so I let the water drain." Ciel said loud enough to catch Sebastian's attention from whatever he was doing once Ciel finished in the bathroom.

Sebastian turned around, unfazed by Ciel stealing his attention away. Did he not find at least _that_ bratty?

"Ok, good. You can give me your clothes and I'll take care of them."

Sebastian outreached to take the dirty clothes from Ciel on his way to the other side of the room where the laundry room was. Ciel's eyes followed him, curious what that room looked like also when something else caught his attention-

A slice of strawberry shortcake on the table.

"What's that for?" Ciel inquired quietly, trying not to seem hoggish for wanting more sweets.

"Oh, that? Well, I thought a bedtime snack would help you fall asleep." Sebastian said as he turned and happily began to watch Ciel inspect the snack.

Ciel froze.

"A bedtime snack, huh?" Ciel said softly, a slight waver hidden in his voice.

"Ciel?"

Ciel wanted the snack, but for it to remind him-

To remind him of his once _home_, well…

Ciel began to tremble. He hadn't had a bedtime snack in years since losing everything. Ciel wasn't trying to reap pity from Sebastian, but just thinking about it got him worked up.

"I…"

"Are you alright?"

Ciel paused for a second, turning swiftly around to Sebastian-

"-look forward to it." Ciel said cheerily, pasting on a fake smile.

He wasn't going to make Sebastian worry about his past, which seemed to calm Sebastian down.

"I left a toothbrush in the bathroom, so don't forget to brush."

"I won't." Ciel replied with a small groan.

Ciel finished his snack and brushed his teeth diligently. He always brushed his teeth while at Maylene's, proving that someone living as poorly as even _he_ could maintain good teeth. In the middle of brushing, Sebastian poked his head into the bathroom.

"I got the couch ready for you to sleep on."

Ciel cleaned up and then peeked out to the couch where pillows and blankets covered in entirely. Ciel turned to Sebastian, who looked a bit worried that Ciel wouldn't like it-

Ciel had been sleeping and slash or _living_ in a garage for two years. A couch, no matter how poorly dressed, it was better than what he had before. Maylene had never really bought him a bed out of the preconceived thought Ciel wouldn't stay around long enough to use one in her garage…

But that was irrelevant. He had a nice place to stay, and with whom he shared it-he was enjoying himself more than he would admit.

"So for tonight you'll sleep here, and tomorrow I'll take you shopping and such, so…please try to sleep, you have a long day tomorrow." Sebastian said softly, tucking Ciel carefully into the pile of pillows and blankets on the couch.

Ciel snuggled himself further into the blankets and pillows, watching Sebastian venture off and away to his own room for the night. Before waving good-night to Ciel and closing his door he paused.

"But if you need anything at all during the night, it's ok to wake me up." Sebastian added in before returning to his room.

Ciel smiled, happily drifting asleep in the covers. He could get used to someone trying to care...

Dark, chilly and a bit eerie. Everywhere Ciel gazed strenuously around there was either something filthy or chained.

If he moved his limbs too far he was swiftly reminded by clanking chains and silhouette like arms reaching out-reaching out to grab _him_ that he was not inching anywhere…

The silhouettes grimly bared their teeth at him, tilting their heads in amusement at _him_.

Ciel was their fun-their game, their toy.

He stared down at himself after a few hovering figures over him, noticing bruises and scratches placed at very peculiar areas such as his sides and knees…

Something was not right-

This _couldn't_ be real.

Ciel woke up with cold sweats, jerking his self forward and out of the sheets. He took a hasty check over.

He was in Sebastian's apartment, not some cold and rundown cellar. There weren't chains or older men's shadows hovering over him, just the blanket given by Sebastian wrapped around him.

He was safe, which meant…

Ciel had been merely dreaming.

_It's not his fault_.

Ciel sniffled and rubbed away swelling tears before approaching Sebastian's door, knocking a few times. Sebastian took a short time to answer, yawning and looking like he had just recently woken up.

"Ciel?"

Ciel refused to look at Sebastian, breathing heavily to ease down his hyperventilating.

"What happened?" Sebastian said while extending out to Ciel, crouching down to look at Ciel.

"I…I had a nightmare and I can't fall back asleep…" Ciel managed through sniffles.

Without further warning, Sebastian firmly pulled Ciel in for a hug. And Ciel-

He didn't even _try_ to push him away.

"It's ok now, Ciel. Now, let's dry off those tears and you can sleep in my bed tonight." Sebastian cooed quietly to Ciel, wiping away Ciel's tears gently.

Afterwards Sebastian led Ciel to his bed, patting invitingly at the spot under the covers next to him. Ciel's sniffling wore down, and he finally started to calm down once under the cover next to Sebastian.

_I can tell he's sincere._

The next morning Ciel finally woke up after an enormous effort from Sebastian-calling his name, nudging, and even pulling back the covers. Then after Ciel lazily woke up, he refused to move from the comfy position.

"Ciel, time for breakfast."

Ciel managed to crawl out of bed. If there was motivation that worked in nearly every case, it had to be Sebastian's food.

For breakfast it was toast, eggs sunny-side up and a cup of orange juice. All of which Ciel inhaled right before Sebastian's eyes.

"You're too tired to wake up, but not to eat?" Sebastian mused, jokingly putting his hands on his hips while looking at Ciel expectantly.

Ciel laid his head briefly on the table before Sebastian propped him up and guided him along to the bathroom with Ciel's own clothes. Ciel looked back at Sebastian, confused about the rush to do anything on a weekend.

"Come on, time to get dressed. We have a busy day, didn't I warn you? There's shopping, and checkups…"

"Checkups, as in…the doctor?" Ciel asked cautiously, hoping he had heard wrong.

Much to Ciel's dismay, Sebastian was _quite_ true to his word about getting out of the apartment.

Ciel didn't hate being outside, nor the idea of hanging out maybe some with Sebastian, but…

_I'm very uncomfortable around others…_

He didn't like being around strangers.

There was this paranoid and skittish feeling he had around anyone he didn't know. For instance, he really didn't know Mr. Sutcliff well enough to even be in his presence had Sebastian-someone he _knew_- been there. He wouldn't approach Mr. Sutcliff on his own, especially if it was just him alone, but being around strangers was just too much.

The first store Sebastian drove to was a furniture store-to pick out all the different parts for Ciel's new room of course. Sebastian carefully strolled through each aisle, asking the very anxious Ciel behind him each time if he liked a certain item. Ciel remained clinging to the backside of Sebastian throughout the entire visit to the furniture store, but Sebastian didn't do more than carry on with his business.

After selecting furniture that Ciel was satisfied with, Sebastian went to one of the cash registers with a young woman behind it. The woman had short tight curls of black hair, her work outfit tightly fitted on her especially at the bust line…

"Beast." Sebastian called out to her politely, waving in a casual manner.

The woman looked up, responding to Sebastian as if he had used her name. She looked surprised to see him.

"You again?"

"I'm here to buy him furniture for his new room."

"Uh-huh. I'll have Jumbo go deliver later." She growled in response, not caring to deal with much more of Sebastian.

The next place that Sebastian dragged Ciel off to was the doctor's office. Ciel was far from pleased once more, clinging yet again to the behind of Sebastian.

"Sebastian…" Ciel waveringly whispered Sebastian's name.

In response, Sebastian walked right up to a nurse hanging around the front counter. She smiled and pulled the clipboard to her very flat chest. Sebastian raised a hand to greet her.

"Hello Angela."

"The doctor is ready to see you."

Ciel was caught off guard with Sebastian positioning him to walk in front of him.

"This way." Angela said happily, leading Ciel back with Sebastian following.

"Sebastian…?"

"You can relax."

Ciel tried to relax, but then a sharp noise caught his attention-

It was a loud _guffawing_ coming from whichever direction Angela was guiding them. Ciel jumped without thinking and pivoted on his heel to turn right into Sebastian.

Not the best plan for an escape, perhaps.

"I refuse-"

"Please calm down. I wouldn't bring you somewhere I wouldn't go myself. He's my doctor too, ok?" Sebastian tried to soothe Ciel.

Ciel slowly turned around, slightly convinced. Sebastian would never do anything to hurt him, so he could trust his judgment about the doctor…right?

"Well…if you say so-"

"Oh my-"

Ciel jolted up, hearing the same cackling voice from the distance. He looked over the doctor cautiously-

He looked more like a mad scientist than anything, his long gray locks hanging nicely over his shoulders. Ciel wasn't able to get a good look at his eyes with the messy gray bangs leaving much to one's imagination.

"You must be Ciel, no? ~"

"Sebastian…?" Ciel whispered nervously.

"Sorry but I have paperwork…" Sebastian said while nudging Ciel forward to be alone with the doctor.

Ciel froze. He was alone with the doctor.

That was _far_ from a relief.

"Well, if that leaves us all alone…"

Ciel slowly turned around in horror to face the doctor, who held out a hand happily to Ciel.

"They call me Undertaker, but don't be fooled. I'm just here to do a checkup."

"Oh…ok."

"So let's get this done, shall we?" Undertaker chuckled while inviting Ciel into his tiny examination room.

From there Undertaker proceeded to check Ciel over for blood pressure, weight, eye sight and hearing. Ciel cooperated despite his dislike for Undertaker touching him, allowing Undertaker to do his job with minimal complaints. The last part of the check-up however, was a physical examination-

It took everything Ciel had not to squirm and avoid Undertaker. His previously surfaced bruises and scrapes were long gone from years back. The _real_ problem was his back.

Undertaker inspected his physical condition swiftly, wasting no time inspecting nearly every exterior part of Ciel. Ciel kept his squirming to a minimum, especially when Undertaker checked his back.

"Well, there's a curious looking mark you have there…It wouldn't be my business to know how it got there…"

"Wait, don't tell Sebastian!" Ciel blurted out without thinking.

Undertaker had a very mischievous look on his face. If it wasn't a tab bit sly and hinting at something bound to be quirky in the least, Ciel had to be imagining it.

"If you turn your back to me, I might have a solution."

"Solution?"

Undertaker scavenged through his drawer of things, holding up a long roll of stickers…

He couldn't be serious?

Undertaker smirked, waving large scale stickers to Ciel. And Ciel-

Hating the idea of a huge neon yellow sticker with a smiley face over his old scar went along with it anyhow. Immediately Ciel put his clothes back on and joined Sebastian outside of the examination room where he had been waiting with Angela.

Sebastian kindly waved good-bye to Undertaker and Angela before toting around Ciel some more.

"Take care, Undertaker."

The next place Sebastian brought him to was the dentist. Ciel lacked words to express the futility of bringing him to such a place since he already took good care of his teeth. Instead, he turned to Sebastian and blankly looked at him.

"The dentist?" Ciel asked, questioning the need to be present in the building.

"You can relax, the dentist is very friendly."

"Is this necessary?"

Sebastian looked like he would roll his eyes at Ciel.

"Well taken care of teeth is important."

"I couldn't have summed it up better myself, Sebastian!"

Both Ciel and Sebastian whipped around to face the messily orange-haired dentist hanging around the corner. Ciel tilted his head, confused by the sudden intrusion.

"Oh and you must be Ciel who he _told_ me about over the phone-do come back with me." The dentist eagerly went on while leading Ciel back from the waiting room.

"It'll be over before you know it." Sebastian said wryly, waving Ciel off.

And as Sebastian had said, the dentist made short work of checking over Ciel's teeth. There weren't cavities or anything to worry about, only proving Ciel's theory correct. Before leaving the dentist pulled both Ciel and Sebastian aside cheerily.

"He has very healthy teeth. I still suggest taking good care of your teeth, but…before you go…I think a smile is in order."

Ciel paused, trying to make sense of what the dentist was asking from him. Why would Ciel ever smile for someone?

"A smile?" Ciel inquired.

The dentist without warning came beside Sebastian and tugged from each side of his mouth to pry open his lips to produce a forced smile. Sebastian didn't look pleased, but his smile…

"Like so!" The dentist snickered loudly.

Ciel let out a small laugh. It was too good an opportunity to see Sebastian forced to smile like a fish hooked from both sides of the mouth being made to smile. Sebastian swiped his hands away, taking his leave.

"Good-bye, Joker." Sebastian said through gritted teeth.

The last place Sebastian drove Ciel to was the tailor. Having no other clothes of his own to wear, Ciel direly needed to get some clothes. He couldn't live in Sebastian's clothes forever, after all.

"This is the last place we're going, ok?"

"Sure thing." Ciel said, relieved.

Ciel trailed behind Sebastian, who seemed to know the building quite well. Along the way of exploring the building Sebastian purposefully ran into Mr. Sutcliff.

"Sebas-chan!" Mr. Sutcliff squealed as he almost made an attempt at clinging to Sebastian before noticing Ciel had beaten him to it.

"This is strictly business." Sebastian warned him, leaving him slinking away as he led them.

"Oh _fine_, this way."

After using Mr. Sutcliff as a tour guide Sebastian and Ciel found themselves in an office. In the office sat behind a desk a rather young woman scribbling over piles of papers furiously. Sebastian closed the door behind Ciel to gather her attention.

She looked far from happy to see Sebastian.

"So we meet again, Mr. Stiff." She scowled, moving herself into the face of Sebastian.

"Yes, well…" Sebastian smiled and turned to Ciel, showcasing him off to her, "This is Ciel."

Ciel had no more than a second to wave to her before she let out a loud gasp and restricted him within her grip. Not only was she smothering his face uncomfortably into her large chest, but he was having difficulty breathing.

"Yes, his figure is perfect for my clothes! We will design you something right away!" She squealed, releasing Ciel momentarily to go fetch something to measure him.

Ciel nearly fled from the room, afraid she would use her measuring tape roughly on him. Instead Sebastian blocked the door, realizing his intentions.

He would get him later for that.

"Let us begin measuring! Now!" She howled loudly with excitement, whipping off Ciel's scarf and shirt without any effort.

Ciel staggered back, covering himself with his arms shyly. Sebastian tilted his head, being the first to notice the large neon yellow smiley face sticker plastered on his lower back.

"Ciel, there's a sticker on your back." Sebastian pointed out flatly.

"Well, that's…"

"Not important. Let's see, your waistline is _this_ and then _that_-oh, this will do nicely. Let's see what we can make you?" She intercepted, tightening the measuring tape around him quickly.

Ciel stepped back once she released him once more, allowing a clear flow for breath. He held onto his clothes carefully, should the crazy seamstress try to take his clothes again.

"Oh yes, this is wonderful…Oh Angelina!" She called out to the door.

"Would you like me to take off the sticker for you?"

"No, I've…got it." Ciel warily whispered.

Sebastian nodded, probably not understanding the purpose of the sticker to begin with. Sebastian moved out of the door's path, especially as the crazy seamstress called forth Sebastian.

"Come see the design, Mr. Stiff."

"Stop calling me that." Sebastian responded in a low voice.

Ciel busied himself in the meantime with slipping his clothes back on. He hadn't been paying attention to anything else in the room except for perhaps the conversation between Sebastian and the crazy seamstress-

Leaving him _quite_ vulnerable to anything out of his focus.

"Excuse me, but would you be Ciel…?" A voice from behind him asked in a whisper, matched in time with a quick shoulder tap.

Ciel froze up in the most literal way. He could have sworn his heart almost skipped a beat, his body tensed in place, and his mind was playing with him. That simple call to him matched with a slight shoulder tap was too much.

It had reminded him of someone and something he didn't wish to think about. It reminded him of what he didn't want to hear or see.

It reminded him of his aunt.

The hand remained on his shoulder as there had been no vocal response from Ciel, which was a very bad mood for whoever had the guts to keep touching him-

He had been touched enough for one day by strangers, and _this_ was crossing the line. He was about to crack as he whipped around and slid out from under her touch…

To make matters worse, she looked _exactly_ like his aunt. _That_ officially put him over the edge.

"Stop!" Ciel barked loudly at the woman, making her wince and draw back.

Sebastian glanced back, recognizing a distressed Ciel if there was ever better time to rescue him.

"Ciel?" Sebastian asked solemnly in a concerned way.

But that didn't stop Ciel.

"Don't…"

Instead he trembled, nearly broke out crying between frustration and anxiety, and almost swiped at the woman had she come any closer.

"Wait, I just-"

"Don't _touch_ me so easily!" Ciel snapped in a wavering voice.

Sebastian rushed to intercept the two of them, pulling Ciel into his chest for hasty consolation. The woman backed up, nervously ashamed of herself while Sebastian continued to fix the once again mess of Ciel.

"Nina, I think it's better if we wait finishing this…Ciel had a long day already, so we should be going…"

"Fine, _fine_." Nina pouted, her hands positioned in a brat like manner atop her hips.

Sebastian hugged and calmed down Ciel a bit more, wiping another round of tears from his face.

_And even so, Sebastian continues to comfort me._

"There's nothing to worry about now…Just put on your clothes and we'll go home, ok? I'll make you some sweets and then we'll call it a day, ok?" Sebastian cooed to Ciel once more, ruffling his hair.

Ciel nodded and sniffled a few last times afore the ride back to Sebastian's apartment.

Once finally back after a long day of being outside with more strangers than Ciel was normally around, Ciel had become worn down. Sebastian baked him another slice of cake to relax him further as he prepared him for bed.

"The furniture comes tomorrow so until then…"

Ciel looked up expectantly at Sebastian.

"You can sleep in my bed again if it's more comfortable."

"You're serious?"

Sebastian shrugged and his lips formed a silly smile. Ciel sighed.

Sebastian was going to get him into the habit of sleeping next to him if he kept that up.

_I suppose also…_

"I'll go get the bath ready." Sebastian called out to Ciel, who went off the opposite way to Sebastian's room.

"I'll borrow some more clothes for tonight." Ciel called out as equally loud from Sebastian's room as he picked through Sebastian's clothes.

As Ciel picked through Sebastian's clothes, he was very much aware that Sebastian was nowhere within his sight as he was clearly off in the bathroom, just a room over.

But a smile somehow formed from Ciel's lips. Something about just knowing Sebastian was nearby felt soothing. It might have been the way Sebastian knew how to make him fall asleep so easily, the way he cooked better than anyone, the way he made Ciel feel comfortable, the way he sincerely cared for Ciel…

_It's ok to like Sebastian just a little, right?_

Ciel wiped his face shyly. He wasn't fooling himself-

_He_ liked _Sebastian_.

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/I hope everyone enjoyed Undertaker as a doctor. Don't worry about Angela, _she_ doesn't show up too much.

And for people who have been waiting for a certain blonde couple to show up and maybe some cuddling and fluff...well…

I won't make you wait much longer. /


	8. Personal Space

Disclaimer; I do not own any part of Kuroshitsuji. Be warned, there is strong yaoi later on.

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Though a quiet Sunday morning at around early six o'clock, Sebastian had already awoken and gotten himself dressed without making the slightest amount of noise to alert Ciel from his peaceful hiding place under Sebastian's bed sheets.

A few minutes after six however Sebastian detected a faint knocking on his front door quick enough to catch it before it could develop into a noise potentially loud enough to wake Ciel. Sebastian answered the door quietly, a hefty as always looking Jumbo awaiting him with furniture outside his apartment.

"Furniture." Jumbo said in a low tone flatly.

"Shh…right this way, we have to be silent." Sebastian warned Jumbo in a whisper while directing him in the direction of Ciel's empty room.

Between Jumbo and Sebastian, assembling Ciel's furniture in complete silence took little effort in near twenty minutes. Sebastian cautiously paused a few times to avoid sudden noises.

Sebastian poked his head into his own room to check on Ciel, but Ciel remained asleep.

"He's still asleep…I was worried for a moment there…" Sebastian whispered with relief.

"Ciel, right?" Jumbo said in a soft voice to Sebastian as he too curiously poked his head in.

Sebastian sighed and nodded. In no way was Sebastian surprised that Jumbo had heard from his friends whom also provided service to Sebastian spread along the news of a new face following Sebastian along. If anyone, it had been Joker probably who told Beast, whom informed then Jumbo…

"Yeah, that's him."

"I see."

Jumbo nodded solemnly to Sebastian, needing no further reminder to leave Sebastian alone with Ciel. Sebastian had achieved a level of understanding with Jumbo after a while, knowing that Jumbo who himself provided for two children whom were not his own knew all about space issues.

He was very aware Sebastian didn't want him around Ciel.

"I should be going, so…try not to break his bed too, ok?" Jumbo laughed quietly on his way out before Sebastian could reply.

"That…that was _not_ my fault." Sebastian groaned, reliving for a moment one of his worst experiences with a broken bed because of a certain _someone_.

Jumbo closed the door behind himself quietly, grinning in amusement with Sebastian one last time. Sebastian sighed and made his way back over to his room, hanging around the doorframe casually.

There was Ciel, tucked under the covers and sound asleep. He couldn't have looked more peaceful, his eyes closed and his breathing in slow rising and lowering mountains under the sheets.

Sebastian smiled, enjoying Ciel at such ease.

_It's hard not to like Ciel._

Sebastian went back to his own business after checking on Ciel, not bothering to wake him up until nearly ten o'clock. Though he had previously taken Ciel out shopping the day before, Ciel still had yet to obtain his own clothes to wear.

He went in and nudged Ciel around gently, calling his name smoothly off the tip of his tongue to call awake the sluggishly moving Ciel.

"Time to get up, Ciel."

"I'm coming, I'm coming…"

Ciel responded after a short while, surprisingly before Sebastian went to announcing breakfast.

For breakfast Sebastian prepared oatmeal to waken Ciel further-

With Ciel's suspicious look toward the meal, it seemed to do just that. Ciel cautiously poked around in the oatmeal with his spoon prior to eating it in his normal haste as if to check for something out of the ordinary. Nothing special occurred, leaving Ciel in a more relaxed position.

"So today I'd like to take you shopping for clothes," Sebastian spoke up after putting away Ciel's dishes "-since your room is almost ready."

Ciel looked up in awe. Sebastian resisted smiling having hoped for a similar reaction.

"Seriously? Since when?"

"The furniture was delivered this morning so we set it up."

Without another word Ciel curiously walked himself over to inspect his room. As Sebastian had said, it was entirely put together with the exception of the clothes missing from the dressers of Ciel.

Ciel glanced back at Sebastian.

"You weren't kidding."

"Of course not." Sebastian said plainly, quite amused.

What would become of Sebastian if he couldn't have kept his word and done such a thing for Ciel?

Ciel turned around fully to face Sebastian to receive his clean clothes. Sebastian nodded at him, cueing to get dressed-

Which Ciel did obediently after a long five minutes. Sebastian didn't even need _that_ much time to get dressed…

After getting dressed, Ciel readily met Sebastian by the door. Sebastian followed behind him to close the door when unexpectedly from the blue Sebastian's phone rang. Sebastian paused and glanced back to the phone hanging in his kitchen, which obnoxiously stole his attention.

"Oh, that's-the phone?" Sebastian curiously focused on the phone.

Who on earth would really call at such an uncommon time? Sebastian looked over to Ciel for approval, who stayed over by the door patiently.

"Ciel…I should probably…if you don't mind…"

"No, it's fine." Ciel said flatly, grabbing the handle to the front door readily, "I'll wait for you down by the stairs…so…so…don't take too long, ok?"

_It's hard to explain…_

Sebastian nodded, waving also as a small motion of thanks.

"I won't make you wait." Sebastian assured him, rushing right to the phone.

Ciel left the apartment, Sebastian then remaining with the unwanted phone all to him. He picked up and answered the phone, but somehow he felt a smile forming in its own once more.

Though partially distracted on the phone, he found himself still amused at the thought of Ciel waiting for him. The twist of _that_ was something rather abnormal.

_But there's something to Ciel._

Once done with the phone call that Sebastian nearly rushed to finish to avoid making Ciel wait, Sebastian locked the door behind him and went down the stairs to find Ciel-

Who of which was much to Sebastian's surprise, talking casually with a stranger.

The stranger was a young male with golden locks no longer than half way down his neck. The hairpins threw Sebastian off for a split second, almost leading him to believe that the person was a female if Sebastian hadn't accidentally interrupted their conversation. Both Ciel and the stranger whipped around to look at Sebastian.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt." Sebastian apologized politely before the stranger swiftly lunged toward his face.

"I'm Finnian-but you can call me Finny. I just moved in here, so I'm your new neighbor!" The young man babbled on to Sebastian in the manner of an untrained puppy with too much energy.

"Well, I'm Sebastian Michaelis." Sebastian introduced himself as he firmly escorted Ciel away.

"Bye Finny." Ciel mumbled.

"I'll see you later! ~" Finny giggled as he waved goodbye to both.

"We're going out."

As Sebastian had kept to his word again, he brought Ciel out to a normal clothes store. Also like before, Ciel continued to follow closely behind Sebastian for the duration of the trip to the store.

Sebastian ignored any surfacing difficulties Ciel caused by hiding behind him, but for Ciel to not help choose clothes to buy…

Sebastian couldn't do all the work. He _could_, but that would be a mess.

"How about this one?"

"It's ok."

Sebastian jokingly turned around to Ciel and tugged on his cheeks gently.

"You're allowed to say no to something I point out. I don't expect you to like everything here." Sebastian calmly reassured him after releasing his cheeks.

"Ah…fine."

Ciel sighed and pointed out a few articles of clothing he liked. Sebastian moved forth the cart to him, encouraging him to do the rest.

"Ok, now add it to the cart when you've found something you like."

Ciel anxiously nodded and did as he was told. Sebastian quietly watched but refrained from putting a limit on how much clothes to buy Ciel. Instead, he carefully observed Ciel nearly fill the cart on his own. By the time that Ciel had noticed however that he was filling the cart and not a single item was taken out, it was too late.

Sebastian had begun to bring the cart to check-out.

"You're really going to buy all that?" Ciel whispered in distress.

"You need clothes don't you?"

Ciel followed Sebastian to the register hastily to try and stop Sebastian. Sebastian on the other hand, paid little mind to his objections and went ahead to buying the clothes.

"Ah, wait! That's a lot of clothes! I mean, I know I need it, but…"

Sebastian swiftly held Ciel's face firmly, blocking his view of the register and his hearing partially. He looked Ciel carefully in the eyes.

"I wouldn't have kept my word if I couldn't do at least this for you."

Ciel paused and returned Sebastian's look with something embarrassed and shy as he pulled away in the process of distancing himself from Sebastian.

"I mean, if you're really set on doing that, I guess…"

Sebastian smiled and finished purchasing the clothes. Afterwards Ciel and he returned to the apartment, it was then time to try and fold Ciel's new clothes. Ciel turned to Sebastian, who turned and glanced back at him.

"I'll help you put away the clothes." Sebastian offered.

"Um, thanks." Ciel whispered back.

First Sebastian began his folding of clothes slowly to show an example to Ciel. Ciel watched him rather intensely, either intrigued or focused on Sebastian's work. Next Ciel took a few shirts and attempted to imitate Sebastian-

Not that Ciel was very successful in doing so, but Sebastian cheered him on.

"Don't worry; you'll get the hang of it." Sebastian assured him with a ruffle of the hair.

Ciel continued to fold and put away clothes with his best effort. A few more tries with Sebastian's guidance and Ciel looked like he was finally mastering it to a degree.

"I think I got it."

"That's good, you're getting it."

Sebastian helped to finish up folding clothes afore starting to mention lunch when Ciel's stomach growled in hasty awareness.

"Looks like it's time for lunch." Sebastian chuckled, casually going on to serve Ciel's lunch.

For lunch Sebastian served strawberry shortcake. Ciel for some reason never seemed to be growing sick of fruit and sweets together, but Sebastian kept his curiosity down low. Meanwhile as Ciel ate Sebastian also joined him at the table with an apple.

Once done eating Sebastian continued to clean up as Ciel lounged on his couch. A few minutes into cleaning Ciel turned around on the couch and poked his head over the couch to face Sebastian.

"Sebastian, what are we doing tomorrow? It's the beginning of your work week, isn't it?"

Sebastian curved around to face Ciel. Somehow, Sebastian really hadn't thought about it like that since he hadn't prepared much of a plan for how to occupy Ciel during his work days-

Besides school, but that was much in progress. He wasn't even sure where to begin _looking_ for schools…

"That's right, I have work. So I was thinking…you wouldn't mind coming to work with me, would you?"

"Oh…ah…that's…that's fine." Ciel said nervously, shying his face away from Sebastian.

"I leave early in the morning, so you might want to go to bed early tonight."

"How early are we speaking, exactly?"

Sebastian stopped to think. He woke up early in the morning for so long he no longer really paid attention to the time he was up and about.

"I get up at six and am out of here by seven thirty after I've done dishes and laundry…"

Ciel jumped back a little, surprised with Sebastian. Then quickly after a few more seconds Ciel picked himself up and left the couch.

"Have you changed your mind?"

"No, I'm getting ready for bed early…" Ciel replied flatly.

Sebastian looked over at the time. It was a _bit_ early at four PM to begin preparing for bed, but if Ciel was already going ahead with getting ready...

"I guess I'll get the bath ready?"

Ciel completely ignored it being still early in the day to be taking a bath, while Sebastian carried on as he would have normally with laundry and bedtime snacks prepared. If Ciel wanted to be ready long before bed as drastic a time he was ready, then so be it.

_For Ciel…_

"Done." Ciel called out to Sebastian after his bath.

Much to Sebastian's content, the nightclothes selected from the store fit Ciel quite nicely. The long shirt went below the knees, but at least fit more properly at the top rather than almost slipping off Ciel.

As Ciel sat down to eat his early bedtime snack, Sebastian remembered Ciel's room having finally been completed. Having been completed, Sebastian took the time to remind Ciel as well.

"Oh, and tonight you can finally have your own bed to sleep in."

"Oh…that's right." Ciel said softly, slumping lazily in his chair.

"I'll only be two rooms away if you need me, Ciel." Sebastian said while ruffling Ciel's hair jokingly.

Still early in the evening, Sebastian and Ciel casually agreed upon wasting the rest of the evening away by sitting on the couch and watching news. Sebastian sat to the left of Ciel, who over the course of a slow three hours gradually began to lean onto Sebastian.

"I'm not tired."

"You looked exhausted." Sebastian said with obvious concern as he escorted Ciel into his new bed.

Ciel snuggled under the covers with Sebastian tucking him in carefully. Afore leaving the room Sebastian turned and glanced back at the drained Ciel.

"If you need anything, let me-"

"Wait, Sebastian…Before you go, can you, um…help me…help me fall asleep?"

Sebastian perched himself on the edge of the bed, patiently thinking of a way to help Ciel. He scratched his chin, not really sure of what to do besides put Ciel in his bed again.

"I can sing you a lullaby."

"Maybe you should save that for later." Ciel said hastily, shooting down Sebastian's idea without hesitation.

"Or…I can stay with you until you fall asleep…" Sebastian said softly, offering out a hand to Ciel.

Ciel shyly rolled himself away from facing Sebastian and took his hand.

"I mean…whatever works for you…" Ciel mumbled from under the covers.

Sebastian smiled, staying beside Ciel loyally until Ciel's retire for the night. He waited until shortly after he was positive Ciel had fallen into a deep slumber to pull his left hand from Ciel's weak grip.

_There's no limit to what I would do._

The next morning Sebastian woke up early as usual at six o'clock and dressed. He hurried to ready a lunch to bring to work for Ciel, and then worked on laundry and dishes he had somehow overlooked.

By six thirty Sebastian had woken up Ciel, who on the other hand was _far_ from awake. Ciel sat on the edge of the bed as Sebastian dressed Ciel without much effort. Ciel yawned here and there, but not even breakfast at seven o'clock could fully awaken Ciel from a half-asleep state as he ate. By seven thirty Sebastian was prepared to leave and take Ciel with him if Ciel didn't seem dizzy in the slightest.

"Will you be ok?"

"I'm fine." Ciel yawned again, following behind Sebastian.

The ride over to work had little effect of waking up Ciel also. However, upon entering the building and passing crowds of gossiping people all around on the way to Sebastian's office-

Ciel woke up for sure.

Ciel returned to his normal following of Sebastian until the arrival at Sebastian's office. In the office Ciel looked around curiously, nearly on the verge of poking through things. He turned back to Sebastian, who gave him the ok to make himself cozy.

"It's _huge_ in here." Ciel said incredulously.

"This is my office, so please make yourself at home."

Ciel explored the room cautiously, staring at the large desk in the room. He pointed to it, assuming it was what he thought it was.

"Your desk, right?"

"Yes, that would be where I do some of my work."

Ciel nodded, taking a seat in the seat across from the seat behind Sebastian's desk. He curled up, making himself cozy in the given space.

"I can find you a comfier seat, Ciel."

"No, it's fine. I'll just take a nap here."

Sebastian nodded casually, understanding that Ciel might become stubborn once more if pressed.

"Well, let me know if you change your mind."

With that, Ciel had curled up into his own chair quietly to try and nap as Sebastian diligently worked at his desk on his laptop. A few times he looked up to check on Ciel-

At some point the noise from outside Sebastian's office became bothersome to Ciel as Sebastian realized, with Ciel squirming uncomfortably in his seat.

"If it's hard to sleep, you can sit here instead."

Ciel sat up and shook his head.

"I don't want to kick you from your seat, so…"

Ciel picked himself from his seat, and then without much other warning squirmed himself into Sebastian's lap. Sebastian was at a loss for words-

Sure he had shared a bed with Ciel, maybe touched him when he ruffled his hair or consoled him with hugs, but to have him sit his lap? That was an interesting first.

"It's quieter over here."

"Very well, I'll make sure you don't roll off." Sebastian said casually as he slung his left arm around to support Ciel from slipping out.

Quite astonishingly to Sebastian, Ciel had honestly fallen asleep against Sebastian's chest. He continued on with his work as he occasionally peered over at Ciel who was fast asleep.

_Though subtle…_

Sebastian checked on Ciel more frequently than necessary, a little fond of seeing Ciel at ease again. Ciel breathed slowly against Sebastian, who in comparison-

Well, _his_ heart fluttered here and there.

_Moments like these are…_

And to make the moment of Ciel cuddled so peacefully to him any cuter, if possible-

Ciel rolled in his sleep into Sebastian's chest. There was a weak bit of curling up as well, but it was surely the rolling into his chest that sparked more butterflies in his stomach in flight.

_Are very precious with Ciel._

Now, if only Ciel could have stay curled up for just a bit longer, Sebastian would have been rather content.

But in a split second, a _very_ obnoxious and unwanted Earl Grey slammed open Sebastian's door.

"_Boss._"

Sebastian looked up furiously at Earl Grey. Not only had he ruined the moment, but he had slammed the door loud enough to joltingly awaken Ciel from his peaceful slumber.

Earl Grey was lucky Ciel was in the room. Otherwise, well…

It wouldn't have been pretty once more for him.

"Oh, I wasn't aware I was interrupting a little something-_something_ with your kid." He snickered in his worst cover-up for innocence.

"This is not just a _kid_. His name is Ciel, and you rudely woke him up. I do hope you have a good reason for doing so?"

"Oh, _that_…well…Drocell and I heard rumors about a kid here, so…"

"Grey."

It took nearly all Sebastian had in him not to take out the stapler from his drawer and torture Grey on the spot. Instead, he lifted up the stapler, and Grey recoiled in fear.

"Am I clear?"

Grey nodded hastily and left with another slam of the door. Had Ciel not been there, Sebastian might have opted for yanking Grey's ponytail or worse.

"That would be Earl Grey, the most obnoxious co-worker. Please disregard him entirely, as he does this often to me."

"Oh, well…I mean…I still slept well. You also made a pretty good cushion, so…"

Sebastian peeked over at Ciel. He must've heard Ciel incorrectly.

"Pardon?"

"It's nothing important." Ciel said quietly, curling into Sebastian in the other direction away from him.

Sebastian sighed, ignoring that Ciel was going to fall asleep on him again.

_I like Ciel very much, but…_

Ciel curled onto his chest again as he slept. Sebastian began finishing up his paper, and checking over on Ciel, who had gone into a deep sleep.

_Sometimes I wonder…_

He looked over Ciel who breathed in and out slowly, his eyelids shut firmly. His lips quirked a little when he slept, like he was about to talk in his sleep but he never did.

Without even pulling Ciel over, Ciel had rolled into his previous position on Sebastian's chest. Sebastian smiled and used his supporting left arm to gently hug Ciel in a tad further.

Ciel wouldn't notice when he woke up, so Sebastian wasn't harming anything.

Somehow though, Ciel wasn't waking up. He must've been in quite the slumber to ignore Sebastian overall-

Even as Sebastian went and cuddled Ciel into his chest with his left arm. When he looked down Ciel's hand had already been so perfectly positioned in his sleep to lie against Sebastian's arm that Sebastian quite cautiously and gently laced his fingers into Ciel's quite petit and delicate in comparison fingers.

But even as Sebastian continued to do so, he felt a _tad_ guilty.

Here was Ciel sleeping in his lap, and yet Sebastian was nearly contenting himself on posing Ciel into himself-

He ought to be ashamed of himself.

_If I'm taking this fondness of Ciel too far?_

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/Sorry you didn't see Bard. But there was Finny.

Cuddling Ciel in his sleep? I think yes…

But if you were cheering for Sebastian to kiss him in his sleep or something, I can't say that's _his_ thing, so much as it is someone else's…but we'll get to that.

And the broken bed thing-well…somehow I do think it's possible for Sebastian to break a bed with someone when doing _those_ sorts of things. /


	9. Intention

Disclaimer; I do not own any part of Kuroshitsuji. Be warned, there is strong yaoi later on.

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After the workday finished, there came Ciel scuffling behind Sebastian slowly with his mouth slightly opened in case of sneakily approaching yawns since somehow was still tired after such a lengthy nap with Sebastian-

Not that Ciel had done anything but nap and sit around Sebastian's office all day anyway…

"You can't possibly still be tired after such a long nap…" Sebastian said jokingly, turning back to stare at a sluggishly moving Ciel.

"It's not my fault taking naps makes you more tired." Ciel countered quietly.

Sebastian turned back to Ciel with a look of concern. _Maybe_ the nap was Sebastian's fault for not getting Ciel into a school or some other busying activity as he worked…

"Tomorrow I'll just work from home, and you can take as many naps as you'd like."

Ciel's face lit up. He wasn't going to complain if he got to be nearby Sebastian at all during the day…

"That's fine."

But he would have happily opted once more for napping in Sebastian's lap.

_I don't know exactly when it happened…_

Sebastian shrugged at Ciel, not seeing that once more Ciel had nicely hidden his emotions under his shell. If Sebastian found out how many times Ciel had willingly already ignored his feelings, well, Sebastian wouldn't have been too pleased.

Once finally home for the evening, Ciel and Sebastian dispersed-

Sebastian went to put away his work things while Ciel went to get himself ready for his bath. Much to his surprise, Sebastian took a bit longer than he had expected for getting his own self together.

"I'll start your bath, but then I'll have to check something from work, ok?" Sebastian hastily apologized as he readied a bath for Ciel.

"It's ok." Ciel said casually.

Ciel understood perfectly well that Sebastian's work was important, and well, maybe it was ok for him to get things from work in order before helping Ciel-

But that didn't stop him from being a _tad_ annoyed. He wanted Sebastian's full attention if he could have had it, but that was a long shot.

_But I've fallen for Sebastian._

Vexed as he slunk down in the bath, Ciel groaned and rubbed his forehead. How he had ever gotten himself into such an awkward situation was beyond him. Sebastian-

_He _had absolutely no clue. Of all the things he noticed about Ciel, how he overlooked _that_ small detail was…

A bit disappointing. Ciel had expected a bit more from him.

Ciel slipped out of the tub after draining the water, and then threw on his new nightshirt. He buttoned it up carefully, remembering watching how Sebastian undid the buttons previously. Ciel smoothed down the nightshirt afterwards to make the fabric reach down to its limit.

In the mirror, he quickly glanced over at himself. Maybe he was a _little_ self-conscious about his body.

_I'm sure it's a bit unheard of since I'm not really his type-_

He turned to an angle, but there was nothing he found interesting about watching himself posing. Not only was he much smaller than Sebastian, but he was a boy-an _underage_ one at that.

Surely Ciel being Sebastian's type was out of the question.

When done in the bathroom Ciel entered the spacious living room, half expecting Sebastian to be up and about rather than sitting on the couch doing work related things on his laptop.

Ever so quietly Ciel crept up behind the couch and peered over to see the back of Sebastian's head. Without further hesitation, Ciel's hand hovered over Sebastian's head-

And begun to pat.

"Boo."

Sebastian chuckled but didn't turn. There was tapping and clicking, but at least he had elicited a response.

"Done already, I see." Sebastian said in a curious tone.

Ciel stopped patting his head yet Sebastian remained at his laptop. What could have _possibly_ been so engrossing?

Ciel drew his hand back before daringly engaging Sebastian's neck in a weak attempt at a hug from behind the couch where Ciel had clear difficulty reaching and achieving a better embrace. Sebastian sighed and closed his laptop.

"I'm coming, I'm coming…"

But after Ciel let go of Sebastian, there wasn't a returned touch of any sort.

_And maybe he's somewhat oblivious…_

Ciel nearly pouted. Instead, he casually stood in Sebastian's way and outstretched his arms-

Sebastian walked right by, completely unaware to Ciel's try at a hug.

He had probably taken it as Ciel stretching while he accidentally stood in Sebastian's way. Because, of course, there was no way Ciel could be deliberately _trying_ to touch Sebastian, right?

At the time for snack, Sebastian joined Ciel at the table for company. Ciel carried on eating, his previously earned defeat hanging over him like a rainy cloud. Sebastian on the other hand casually stared around the room as he probably found it rude to stare at Ciel as he ate.

"So I was thinking that tomorrow when I'll be at home working we should try finally looking for a school to enroll you in."

Ciel jerked forward, gagging on his snack before Sebastian. Sebastian leaned forward also, ready to assist Ciel.

"Ciel, are you ok?"

"Yeah, it's nothing." Ciel lied flatly.

He _hated_ the idea of school.

Ciel had been without a proper education in quite some time, but it wasn't his fault. A homeless boy could not just enroll himself in just any school he wished. Even then, if Sebastian found him a school to attend, and if the classes and people were friendly-

Ciel wouldn't be able to do it. He didn't _do_ those types of schooling.

As bedtime closed in, Ciel indifferently found himself once more sleeping in his own bed.

He liked his own bed, sure. Now, if Sebastian was in a different bed from him-

How on earth was he supposed to show his utmost enthusiasm about going to sleep? A bed without Sebastian was rather lonely, now that he had already experienced sleeping for once with someone's company.

"Goodnight Ciel." Sebastian said happily as he sent Ciel to bed.

There wasn't much of a tucking in, much to Ciel's discontent. If only he had Sebastian stay with him until Ciel fell asleep again, Ciel would have fought off his exhaustion just for him.

The next morning Ciel woke up to Sebastian urging him up and about. Sebastian tested out his previously used gentle shaking, name calling, and mentioning of Ciel's name.

"Ciel, it's time to get up."

Ciel rolled over past the covers, forcing himself to sit up. Why on earth Ciel couldn't stay in bed and ever eat breakfast still confused Ciel.

"I'm getting ready as fast as I can."

Ciel in a lifeless manner slipped into a sweater and casual jeans, more new clothes that Sebastian weaseled him into picking out for himself. Out on the table was already Ciel's breakfast as Sebastian had sat himself at work on the couch again.

Ciel ignored Sebastian at work rather than sitting at the table and joining him for breakfast. Once done he dropped the dishes into the sink for Sebastian only to take up a seat along the couch next to Sebastian. Sebastian showed a quick smirk upon Ciel sitting right next to him.

Ciel relaxed back into the couch, peacefully keeping Sebastian's company as he continued with his work. Sebastian peeked over a few times to check on Ciel, who of which the entire Sebastian worked refrained from napping.

If there was a possibly more comfortable option for taking a nap within Ciel's reach, he would wait it out-

He would wait for Sebastian's lap to clear up before he ever napped on the couch.

Sebastian yawned after a fair amount of time, stretching his arms upward. Next he turned to Ciel and lazily forced himself to remain awake.

"Ciel, can you move this laptop over there? I'm going to take just a short break." Sebastian said quietly as he offered his closed laptop over to Ciel.

"Sure thing." Ciel said as he carefully moved the laptop over to his left on the couch.

Ciel took extra care to handle the laptop warily. When he looked back at Sebastian, he realized that maybe Sebastian really _had_ been tired after all if he was already lights out by the time Ciel had put aside the laptop.

Without meaning to, Ciel curiously looked at Sebastian's now empty lap.

An empty lap was most certainly an indirect invitation for Ciel, if there was ever one. So, slowly and vigilantly Ciel found himself doing what he knew was beyond a bad idea…

Crawling over to Sebastian's lap. Ciel unwittingly then curled up in his lap-

Which was still warm from the laptop. Happily Ciel made himself comfy in a curled position upon Sebastian's lap. It was questionable how long Sebastian would remain asleep…

_But that doesn't mean I can't still fantasize._

But Ciel would take what he could get. Whether it be five or ten minutes-

"Ciel…what are you doing?"

Ciel froze up. How he would cover up for such a weird place to lie?

"Your lap, it was…it was warm from the laptop, so I…I mean…"

Sebastian _chuckled_ at Ciel.

"Ciel, you _really_ are too much…" Sebastian removed his hand from his mouth that silenced his chuckle, "…like a cat. Would you like a belly rub next?"

Sebastian reached over and petted, if not _stroked_ Ciel's sides like Ciel was a cat. Ciel silently panicked, sitting upright at the uncalled for touching.

"I didn't mean to wake you, I just…um…"

Sebastian removed his hands from Ciel, laughing once more in a friendly sort of way.

"I was only teasing, Ciel. I still had to wake up some time so we can deal with this school thing, yes?"

"Well…I guess that's true."

Sebastian stretched and yawned, still evidently a tad tired.

"Ok, good. Now, I don't mind which you pick…but would you prefer a public or private school?"

Ciel paused, his memory lamely relapsing. He _honestly_ couldn't remember the difference between a public and private school.

To make matters worse, he had only been homeschooled in the past, so how was he to choose a school if he was absolutely clueless?

"Well, they're both schools…and so they're practically the same, right…?"

Ciel didn't find his answer unsuitable until the split second Sebastian made a face questioning him otherwise. Apparently, that was a wrong answer.

"Ciel, is there something regarding your academics that I should know?"

Ciel turned away from facing Sebastian. Being homeschooled years ago now was turning out to be a rather awkward topic.

"Well…you _could_ say I used to be homeschooled…so, I…um…I wouldn't…"

"That explains a lot." Sebastian said flatly, half relieved and half understanding the problems caused by Ciel's previous ways of education.

Growing up, Ciel had begun to lack social skills. He didn't get outside often due to his once poor immune system, making it a bad start to meeting others. Then as Ciel started schooling, it was unquestionable that Ciel still had to remain locked inside and be homeschooled-

Thus overall putting the near finishing touch to Ciel's already terrible social skills with others.

Sebastian sighed and looked at Ciel a bit softer. He probably felt for Ciel, who had never really realized how anti-social he literally was.

"It's ok; we'll find you a nice private school."

"A private school…like the one Maylene works in…?" Ciel asked under his breath.

"Maylene works in a private school?" Sebastian asked upon catching Ciel's mumble.

"She mentioned to me one time when I asked her what she did…and she's a librarian in a private school, I believe…" Ciel said after a strenuous amount on concentration.

Sebastian clasped his hands together and smiled. Ciel gave him a curious look, seeing as he had given Sebastian some crazy idea now.

"Good, then we've found you a school. Plus, you now already have your first friend."

"B-but…_she's_ there! That's _weird_!" Ciel whined.

Sebastian reached out and ruffled Ciel's hair in the manner he had done so many times by now. Ciel looked down and hid his face from Sebastian, hiding a bashful expression.

_I don't want to refuse his touch…_

Sebastian finished moving Ciel's hair back in place after messing it up to begin with, then casually left Ciel sitting on the couch so he could go off and make dinner.

_Just_ like that, Sebastian could easily go from touchy and sincere to focused and unaware to Ciel's small bursts of flirtation.

Had Sebastian _still_ no idea that this relationship between them wasn't _possibly_ with them as simply friends? Normal friends didn't allow others to nap on their laps nor ready baths for the other. Normal friends didn't get all gushy over small gestures, and they _surely_ didn't offer to let someone they had known for barely a month sleep in the same bed as them.

_But I don't think we're on the same page._

For dinner, Sebastian finally joined Ciel quietly at the table to eat. Neither had anything further to say, leaving the table completely free from conversation the entire meal. Following dinner Sebastian set to cleaning up and doing the dishes from earlier he had abandoned. Ciel on the other hand nervously gathered is clothes for his evening bath.

A bath itself was calming, but just the idea of gathering himself up to voice later to Sebastian-

No amount of soothing could ready him for that.

_I plan to tell him._

Sebastian once more was too engrossed in something else to have even noticed a tense Ciel, which left it to Ciel to regain his attention. Ciel would have been irritated with Sebastian not paying attention to him, making it much easier to disrupt Sebastian without a guilty feeling.

"Sebastian, I'd really like to talk to you after my bath, so if it's ok…"

Sebastian whirled around, Ciel finally the center of his attention.

"Oh, of course Ciel. Let me ready your bath, and then we'll talk afterwards." Sebastian said all too casually.

Ciel took his time in the bath. He didn't like to wade around in the water for too long, but if he could organize his thoughts just a _tad_ before he opened his mouth and said something, perhaps it wouldn't sound as terrible as if he had just winged it-

Which he had considered for a moment or two afore deciding to wing it was not the _best_ approach when confessing to someone such as, well, Sebastian.

Done with his bath Ciel dressed himself and drained the water from the tub. Outside in the living room Sebastian sat around idly waiting for Ciel. He gestured to the table, then the couch.

"Ciel, would you like to sit at the couch or table?"

"The, um…table."

Ciel sat himself cautiously at the table, across from Sebastian as usual. Placing himself next to Sebastian was a _bit_ of a risky idea, since he really didn't have the vaguest notion of what Sebastian would do once Ciel had confessed-

He was under the impression Sebastian wouldn't touch him, but it was better to be safe.

"Ok, um…I don't want you to laugh or anything, since I haven't got the best wording for this so…um…"

"Rest assured, I won't laugh or be angry."

Ciel hesitantly paused. If there was a good time to flee and try this another day, now was the time to abandon the whole thing…

But instead he took in a heavy breath and continued along, turning his head down from Sebastian's face.

"So, I wanted to say…um…that …that I like you Sebastian-I mean, you're incredibly caring, and you've been someone I can trust…I guess this is a thanks, but I mean to tell you that, well, I know you give me hugs…and stuff, and I don't hate it but I don't think…well, maybe we shouldn't …um…you know…keep touching."

Ciel refused to look up, but a near silence from Sebastian was enough to cause him slight worry.

"Ciel…?" Sebastian asked in a quiet voice, a hint of something unusual present.

"It's not your fault, I was just thinking…that if you touch me…it sort of gets my hopes up and well…" Ciel paused and dared to look up and meet eyes with a troubled Sebastian, "I know it's weird for me to like you so much in _that_ sort of way, so if maybe we don't touch…this won't be awkward for either of us since…I mean…you _might_ love me, but certainly not in the same way that I feel about you…so…let's just not touch each other, if that's ok…?" Ciel said flatly with a finishing fake smile just for Sebastian, letting him know that it wasn't going to crush Ciel's world of he didn't touch Ciel anymore-

Which was a terrible understatement that Sebastian didn't have to know about.

Ciel sat patiently in his seat, awaiting quietly just _any_ sort of answer from Sebastian. Sebastian had stayed speechless for a few minutes, not responsive to Ciel. _Then_ would have been a good time to let Sebastian be and sit out what Ciel had piled atop him, but Ciel remained.

He wanted to hear just _something_.

But for waiting to hear Sebastian respond, Ciel was instead met with a rather troubled Sebastian-

More troubled than ever, frowning and resting his head in his hand with one elbow propped on the table, Sebastian sighed.

"Ciel, that's…"

Ciel slunk in his seat, defeat creeping once more upon him.

Had he said too much? Was it too soon? Ciel picked himself out of his seating, waving his hand in a shooing motion to Sebastian.

He shouldn't have said anything at all.

"I know it's a lot to take in, I'm sorry…I'll…I'll just put myself to bed now." Ciel said quietly in his most apologetic voice as he escorted himself to bed.

In bed Ciel shifted around uneasily under his covers. Sebastian tucking him under his covers wasn't going to happen, all thanks to him running his mouth…

The next morning Ciel woke up after several attempts from Sebastian, who this time around did no more than call his name repeatedly. Ciel forced himself to sit up, not really wanting to get up and do anything for quite a while.

"Ciel, we're going out to visit Maylene's school."

"Ah…ok." Ciel said lazily as he readied himself to go out for the day.

For breakfast Ciel sat down at the table alone since Sebastian instead moved around the living room. Ciel was _sure_ Sebastian was distancing himself as he didn't bother to look at Ciel even once to check on him as he ate.

"I called and arranged a tour from the Steward of the school. When we get there, you should be ready to see other children."

"You've got to be kidding." Ciel groaned, leaning back unsafely in his seat.

"No, not at all. It _is_ a normal school day for children after all." Sebastian responded in a less than normal way, his voice creepily lacking some emotion.

Ciel nodded and went along with it. Sebastian was acting a _tad_ weird, but Ciel _had_ distanced himself from him out of the blue only last night…

Maybe he would be more composed and normal in public?

Ciel turned and threw on one of the jackets Sebastian had newly bought him as he waited by the door. If he was waiting on anyone else, it could have been normal, but…

Sebastian of all people to take his time was questionable in the least.

"Ciel, before we go, I'd like to tell you something. You could say it's a bit important, but if now's not a good time either…"

Ciel turned to face Sebastian. Admittedly, his attention was hooked.

"Ok, you've got my attention."

For the first time in hours, Sebastian smiled.

"Very well. You see, I thought that since I was not given a proper amount of time to respond last night, now would be a better time-"

Ciel flinched, backing himself away from Sebastian. He had changed his mind; he didn't want to hear this.

"Sebastian, we already finished that-"

"If you would allow me to finish, maybe you would change your mind-"

"My mind is already made up, so there's no way I'd go and ever-"

"Since I never had the true opportunity to tell you-"

Ciel shook his head and turned away from Sebastian. He was going to snap and tell Sebastian he wasn't interested anymore when the strangest thing happened again;

Sebastian interrupted _him_.

"That I love you. But of course, you've probably got your heart set on ignoring me…but I get it." Sebastian said plainly as he finished.

Ciel stopped dead in his tracks.

He couldn't properly manage to finish his own sentence, Sebastian having said something just like, well…_that_.

And after another lengthy awkward moment of silence between just the two of them, Ciel stepped forward to Sebastian warily. He didn't hate Sebastian-

"Idiot!"

"Ciel?" Sebastian asked curiously as he raised his hands up defensively to shield himself from a furious Ciel

"Why would you play with me like that?"

"I wasn't joking."

"Then why didn't you stop me? Or why did you look so upset after I said something?"

Sebastian shushed Ciel, clearing trying to calm him down if possible at which point. Ciel continued to pout angrily, but at least quietly.

"Please understand…It's _rude_ to interrupt others when they talk. Second-I was disappointed, yes, but _only_ in the fact that you made a confession before I even got around to making my own. That was my fault, yes, but..."

Ciel relaxed his shoulders, peacefulness partially washing over him. Sebastian was still awkward in all his honesty, but it was honesty none the less whether Ciel liked it or not…

"You should have said something earlier then!" Ciel scolded.

"I apologize; it's not easy for a twenty-seven year old male to confess these intimate feelings to an underage male."

Ciel snorted and looked at Sebastian expectantly. What an _idiot_ Sebastian was.

"You could have said it however and I would have said yes!" Ciel retorted in a tone mockingly as if Sebastian had been the real fool all along.

Sebastian stepped closer to Ciel slowly, nodding. Ciel rolled his eyes.

Maybe Ciel could live with loving the overly-protective, and _clearly_ overly-concerned Sebastian…

Sebastian pulled Ciel into a firm hold, something almost similar to his previous hugs. Ciel blushed openly and put his head against Sebastian's chest-

And there was quite the rapid heartbeat to greet Ciel if he listened carefully. Ciel opened his mouth but words wouldn't come out. He looked up to Sebastian, who smiled all too happily.

"I'll take that as a yes."

Ciel snorted and bashfully shoved Sebastian off, detaching himself from him.

"I-idiot! We still have things to do today." Ciel said firmly, brushing himself off and heading to the door.

He got all the way to the door, but somehow heard laughter. He glanced back; Sebastian was covering his mouth and laughing _just_ loud enough to get Ciel's attention.

Ciel put his hands on his hips expectantly, not amused in the least to be Sebastian's next best joke.

"What's so funny?"

Sebastian stopped laughing and looked over to Ciel, who was utterly confused as Sebastian walked himself slowly to the door.

Once at the door, Sebastian leaned over to Ciel's ear.

"I love you too." Sebastian whispered in a smooth voice, leaving a peck on the shell of Ciel's ear.

Ciel drew back, his face flushing completely in record time. Sebastian-

He smiled once more, not ashamed at himself. Ciel on the other hand swiped Sebastian away on his way out the door.

"We're never going to get anything done if you don't stop that!" Ciel scolded him, glancing back to the content Sebastian.

Because of Sebastian, arriving late to places was going to be the _least_ of his concerns.

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/I'm sorry it's uploaded so late...I'll manage my time better…

I tried to upload fanservice on my profile as a late Christmas gift, but it magically disappeared three times…so I gave up. Yes, I'm sadly a quitter.

And oh yes, so matters concerning school are coming up. Now, I must include details next time…

But I am _testing_ out the idea of recruiting _your_ OCs to be teachers.

(Because all the others characters seem to be everything _but_ teachers…)

…P.s to whoever is in the slightest stalking the other version of Loot, I have updated from page eighteen to fifty-four. Happy belated holidays! /


	10. Assure

Disclaimer; I do not own any part of Kuroshitsuji. Be warned, there is strong yaoi later on.

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After nearly a half an hour of searching for the school with poor provided directions, Sebastian and Ciel were lucky enough to stumble across the school while driving past. Sebastian made a quiet comment barely out of Ciel's earshot about something in a less than pleased tone about the directions.

Wittily, Ciel refrained from asking him to repeat himself louder.

Once on the school grounds Ciel took his normal position behind Sebastian as he casually followed into the building. Through a few attempts Sebastian found his way around the main office with Ciel patiently tagging along. Inside the main office sat a variety of staff behind desks attending to either filing papers or answering calls.

Sebastian looked at the unoccupied chairs against the wall in the main office for guests, then back at Ciel. Ciel shyly shook his head and gave back a wistful look.

He didn't _have_ to stand and wait with Sebastian.

Sebastian slowly approached one of the front desks in the office, waving in a friendly manner to the young woman at the desk-

And in little to no time she bolted up in her seat and pushed aside whatever she had been doing previously.

"Hello." Sebastian greeted her warmly, smiling.

The young woman was clearly taken aback, her face abruptly flushing as she nervously tried to compose herself-

Maybe Sebastian was a _little _over-charming…

"Um…hello. How…can I help you…?" The woman stuttered.

Sebastian placed one hand on his chest and gave the young woman a gentle look before continuing.

"My name is Sebastian Michaelis, and I had called and arranged an appointment with the steward. I was wondering if he was free at the moment."

The young woman rushed to get ahold of the phone in the corner of her desk, dialing already away at numbers. She nodded furiously, getting right to it.

"Ok, sure! I…I can check for you right now!" She blurted out while Sebastian gave her one more pleasant smile as a reward.

As the young woman worked at her phone, Sebastian glanced back to Ciel-

Who gave Sebastian in response a sour look of anger. Sebastian frowned a tad, since he hadn't really been flirting with the woman so much as being his friendly self…

"I apologize for making you wait." An older and more accented voice echoed unsuspectingly from around a corner, making both Sebastian and Ciel turn to face a much older staff member waiting around in the office.

The older man was well suited up in a full set of dress clothes, clothes neatly fit with a finishing touch of a monocle resting over one eye. Sebastian approached him, recognizing his voice immediately. Ciel on the other hand decided this once to keep his distance from Sebastian's business.

"I am indeed the steward of this school. You may also if you like call me Mr. Tanaka." The steward introduced himself in person to Sebastian to the first time.

Sure Sebastian had talked to him over the phone, but to meet such a noble in person after such a previously wonderful conversation over the phone, Sebastian had actually looked forward in the slightest to meeting this man. Ciel looked puzzled from back where he stood, which was to be expected as he really had no idea who this man was.

"It's wonderful to finally meet you in person." Sebastian said casually, nodding along.

The steward smiled from under his short moustache and forwarded himself to Ciel, who still looked a tad petrified. The steward held out his hand to Ciel, smiling pleasantly.

"Ah yes, then you must be the intriguing Ciel I was told about over the phone. I must say, it is a pleasure to meet you."

"Yes…that would…be me…" Ciel cautiously went along.

The steward nodded and drew his hand back before pivoting around and heading out the main office exit without warning. Sebastian and Ciel exchanged looks momentarily.

"Well then, let us be on our way." Mr. Tanaka said jollily on his way out.

Sebastian laughed quietly and turned around to guide Ciel out after the steward as well, who of which moved surprisingly fast. Sebastian considered having Ciel walk in front of him so he could ensure Ciel keeping at the proper pace until Ciel moved himself behind to following Sebastian once more for the tour. Otherwise throughout the tour Sebastian and Ciel were guided thoroughly past classrooms and floors of the extensive building

On another note, Sebastian could have sworn that Mr. Tanaka was _surely_ making barely audible noises that resembled 'oh ho ho' as they walked along.

During the tour a few times Sebastian would turn to Ciel and see how he was doing. Ciel looked amused if not also somewhat in awe to finally be exploring a school. Carefully leaning in toward Ciel, Sebastian faced him as they slowed down behind Mr. Tanaka.

"What do you think?"

Ciel casually shrugged and stared at various places over the hallways.

"It's…interesting for a school, I guess…" Ciel said plainly.

Sebastian smiled. At least Ciel didn't hate the tour entirely-

Or for the most part, he hadn't shown any signs of displeasure until right until Mr. Tanaka had decided to take them on a small detour past students in the hallways. _Then_ Ciel appeared as troubled as ever while shifting his face immediately away from whatever direction students gazed over from when they passed by. Sebastian glanced by with uneasy feelings to Ciel, realizing Ciel's social problems were a bit more literal than he had considered.

"What's wrong?" Sebastian whispered to Ciel.

"Nothing." Ciel whispered back hastily.

Sebastian sighed, shifting his own gaze back to Mr. Tanaka who had in a short amount of time from under close attention had begun to drift them along another endless hallways filled with students. Sebastian _really_ should have taken an after school hours tour instead to avoid students, but here they already were trailing behind the jolly steward.

Perhaps the steward was trying to get Ciel familiar with other students? It was a nice idea, except for the part where Ciel was not enjoying himself any further. Sebastian advanced Ciel and himself forward to reach to steadily gaining pace steward. Sebastian nearly caught up to the steward on his own until Mr. Tanaka had stopped himself already-

Only to be conversing with a young female student.

"Good evening Miss Middleford. I would like you to meet our two guests." Mr. Tanaka said jollily while gesturing back to a bemused Sebastian and hidden away Ciel.

The female student whom the steward addressed turned and pulled herself out of her crowd of other female friends. She was dressed like all the other girls in a uniform skirt and top, but her distinct abundance of bouncy blonde curls and ringlets of hair made her stand out somewhat. She looked over Sebastian carefully, whether or not she even noticed Sebastian was fully aware.

"This is mister Michaelis and Ciel. Ciel is going to be transferring here into your grade so as the second year class president I would expect you to take good care of Ciel for his stay."

The girl tilted her head to the side, attentively now searching for the hidden Ciel who meanwhile only could wait and hope she didn't look behind Sebastian-

Which she did, leaving Ciel to dash back into further hiding with his face half covered with his hands. She poked her face forward to him once more, trying to find him again, only laughing.

Right, like _laughing_ was going to get Ciel out of hiding.

"Don't be silly, I just wanted to see your face." She giggled.

Ciel cautiously poked his face from behind Sebastian, still covering his mismatched eye. Maybe if Ciel stepped out she would leave them alone. It was a long shot.

"My…my eye hurts, so now may not be a good time…" Ciel lied in a whiney voice, covering his eye before the girl.

The girl happily approached Ciel. Sebastian considered intervening if the girl toyed with Ciel in any sort, but until then…

"Well, hey-I can show you to the nurse." The girl said in a singsong voice before snatching Ciel for her own tour around.

It was official, this girl and Sebastian would not get along.

Touching Ciel was one thing-reserved for someone Ciel gave permission to, but this _girl_ was nearly dragging Ciel against will. And should she lay but more than a hand on Ciel, well-

Sebastian was sure he could find a suitable solution for her.

"B-but…Sebastian-we can't just leave him…I mean…he…" Ciel whined unwillingly as the girl pulled him along.

_It's painfully obvious when Ciel doesn't want something._

Sebastian sighed.

This girl wasn't going to be getting along very well with Ciel either if she wasn't capable of listening to Ciel, let alone using her common sense not to drag a _clearly_ unwillingly person along.

Sebastian finally stepped forward, firmly holding onto Ciel's shoulders. The girl easily lost in a game of tug of war over Ciel, which she didn't appear happy about. Sebastian pulled Ciel in as subtly as possible, knowing even on school grounds he couldn't exactly pull Ciel into a hug without a few stray awkward glances.

"I would be very interested in seeing the nurse's office."

The girl casually slumped, acknowledging somewhat defeat.

"Oh…ok." She whimpered as she dispassionately led them to the nurse's office.

Once rest assured Ciel would not be in her grips, Ciel moved behind Sebastian again. Neither paid much attention to the girl as she idly continued to discuss the nurse's office.

"Here's the infirmary. It offers everything in here…and the nurses are pretty nice too…"

Unimpressed, Sebastian ignored her. On the other hand distracted by seeing another student in the nurse's office, Ciel stared back at the dully grey haired student who blinked in return with blankly scarlet eyes. Sebastian watched from his side glance at Ciel, who stared down the student for a bit longer until the girl stopped talking.

The girl whirled around and tried to smile. If it had been only Ciel present, perhaps she would have smiled properly-

But Sebastian no longer trusted her alone with him, seeing as she could not be gentle in the least.

"Any questions? Like…_anything_ at all?"

_And this girl cannot take a hint._

Sebastian rested his hands on Ciel's shoulders as before, standing behind Ciel protectively. He smiled and carefully held Ciel's face from both sides in an almost bragging way.

"No thank you, Miss Middleford. You have been a great help, but if you would excuse us…I would feel more comfortable tending to Ciel myself."

And in an instant, the girl's mouth formed a silent 'o'.

It had _finally_ clicked in her brain.

"Oh, sure…I see, that's…fine. I'll see you later, Ciel." She said in a sullen tone as she left.

Maybe she thought he was an overly protective parent of guardian. Maybe she thought he was a little _too _close to Ciel. _Maybe_ she understood that she was being purposefully excluded, which was perfectly fine since Sebastian was intentionally trying to tell her to leave.

Once she had entirely taken her leave, Sebastian sat Ciel down away from the other students casually. He was once more friendly with the nurses to gain privacy for Ciel, who he had fetched a bandage for.

Ciel rolled his eyes at Sebastian, who smiled.

"Close your eyes, I have the bandage ready."

"You were serious." Ciel groaned.

Sebastian carefully dressed Ciel's face diagonally, only to cover the left side of his face where he had been hiding so bashfully his mismatched eye. Ciel sat and took it quietly until he finished wrapping the bandage.

"I was lying about the pain, you know."

"But of course I was aware that you were lying. I saw the look on your face and knew." Sebastian said flatly, attentive to the lie all along.

"You could tell by looking at my face? Then I guess you could also figure out what I was glaring about earlier?" Ciel asked with a small hint of annoyance.

Sebastian paused and nodded. It was safe to guess what Ciel had been troubled about.

"If I must take a guess, then I would say…you are still upset that I was friendly to the young lady in the office."

"Bull's eye." Ciel said with a snort.

Sebastian stopped to rub his temples while Ciel continued to issue him a scowling look.

"Ciel…there's no need to worry about such silly things."

_In trivial arguments such as these, I wonder if perhaps…_

Sebastian firmly held both side of Ciel's face, careful not to bother the dressing in any way as he looked at Ciel. Ciel stared back at him, only one eye free to do so.

"I'll repeat myself as many times as you need for you to believe me-" Sebastian whispered to Ciel as he gently pulled him in and bringing his own lips to Ciel's forehead, "-that I love only you."

_If I had possibly made him jealous._

In a slightly fidgety manner Ciel sat and allowed Sebastian to finish up his slow peck to the forehead before pulling away. Ciel averted his gaze from Sebastian bashfully as usual, only forgetting to leave Sebastian behind.

"Idiot!" Ciel whispered in a low voice.

Sebastian waited in place for Ciel to leave, but he didn't. Instead he only budged once Sebastian had started to come along with him.

"Are you not less upset? Should I say it once more…?" Sebastian curiously checked.

"Absolutely not!" Ciel barked after quickly whirling around, his face naturally flushed.

Sebastian smiled at Ciel, who pouted while waiting still standing in place for Sebastian to follow.

"Very well, but if you ever need me to repeat myself I would be more than happy to." Sebastian whispered jollily as he casually passed Ciel on his way by.

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/So late to put it up! I wanted to put it up hours ago.

And if you did not smile when Sebastian showed Lizzie, well…You have yet to see real jealousy.

Anyhow, so about the teachers-

I am _completely_ serious when I say that I _literally_ do not have the characters available for teachers. Every character from the series was given a role in the storyline already. I suppose now it would be better to keep the teachers simple as I go. (For example, the science teacher might just be 'Sir' or 'Miss' when addressed by students.) /


	11. Adjusting

Disclaimer; I do not own any part of Kuroshitsuji. Be warned, there is strong yaoi later on.

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After hours and days of preparation, Monday had finally rolled around the corner. For Ciel, he was going to be starting late into what _should_ be his second year of high school. Meanwhile however, if Ciel was off at school for most of the day-

He couldn't be around Sebastian. Of all the reasons Ciel was not going to enjoy school that had to be the top.

Once fully dressed in the school uniform-a light blue blazer overtop a white dress shirt combined with dark navy pants and black dress shoes, Sebastian of course promptly waited with Ciel by one of the empty school entrance ways. Ciel stood with his messenger bag slung over one shoulder, half frozen in place.

He was terrified to go in without Sebastian, but…

Sebastian had work. And besides, Sebastian couldn't tote him around all day, right?

He took in a deep breath and warily moved barely a step or two toward the entrance before whirling back around in defeat to Sebastian. He slouched over forward, his body weakly bent in devastation.

"I…I can't do it, Sebastian." Ciel groaned.

"Ciel, you can do this, so please just relax. You have all your school supplies, your lunch…and I will be back here immediately after school is over to pick you up," Sebastian whispered back as he cautiously pulled Ciel in before continuing, "I _promise_ you'll be ok."

Ciel mumbled something faint under his breath about Sebastian being an idiot before removing himself from Sebastian. Sebastian backed up a step or two to give Ciel some space as Ciel finally preceded forward and made his way into the school while purposefully ignoring Sebastian waving goodbye on his way in. Once inside the school Ciel scavenged through his bag for his schedule before heading to his first class, English.

Ciel spent a good three minutes rushing and nearly pushing through other students until he found his English class. He calmed himself down afore entering the room, since he was _not_ in the mood to spring an asthma attack his first day of school, _especially_ first thing in the morning after just entering the building. He slowly walked into the room, virtually oblivious to the teacher sitting around at his desk sternly.

"Ciel." A quiet but firm voice called out to Ciel, coming unsuspectingly from behind the large desk at the front of the room.

Ciel nervously approached the desk, but the unfazed look of severity from his teacher was not in any way assuring. The teacher sat up straight in his seat, polishing up piles of papers on the desk. He stared down Ciel with little tenderness as he straightened out the plaque on his desk, '_Mister Phipps'_.

"Your seat is right there." Mister Phipps said while pointing out one of the first seats in the front row of desks.

"Oh…ok." Ciel stammered, slightly intimidated as he took his seat without further instruction.

Accommodated at his desk Ciel began to unpack his materials or class early by propping his messenger bad upon the desk to allow easier access into the bag. He minded his own business while searching through his bag, completely unaware of his surroundings until he looked up-

And there was a fellow male student leaning over on the desk toward Ciel. Of course, Ciel jolted up having realized the proximity between the two of them. The student smiled warmly, tilting his head to the left as his messy light blond locks swished aside in a manner of sync.

"Good morning!" The boy cheerily welcomed Ciel, waving eagerly.

Ciel nodded, absolutely stuck in such a situation. He really didn't know what to think of this stranger…

"I haven't seen your face in here before…you must have just come here, right?"

"Yeah." Ciel mumbled quietly.

"I'm Ciel."

The boy nodded slowly, his lips slowly curling from a once easy going smile to a grin.

_This guy-_

"Well, Ciel, I'm Alois. I sit right behind you, so…" Alois changed back to a smile again, clasping his hands together and closing in on Ciel, "…We're going to be friends."

Ciel recoiled without trying, his body clearly not willing to _that_ idea. Ciel paused and waved his hands in front of himself, almost shooing Alois away.

"Whoa, I only just…I mean, you don't even know-" Ciel spat out falteringly to Alois, who retreated back to his seat just as the school bell rang.

Ciel whirled as best he could around in his seat to complain at Alois when the teacher vociferously put all other side conversations to rest. He yanked from atop his desk some sort of book and opened it up.

"That's enough fooling around, class has begun. Now, open to page one hundred sixteen to read the passage."

Ciel fretfully looked around for the correct book as the other students carried on normally with their reading. Ciel slumped back in his seat defeat getting the better on him again.

"He means the red book, under the desk." Alois whispered quietly while leaning forward to Ciel's ear.

Aside from being rather disturbed already from Alois, Ciel attempted to make the best of the rest of class. He sat up straight and ignored Alois's hauntingly eerie manner of passing on advice for most the time. After class, Ciel hurried to pack his things and be on his way to biology-

Until Alois stopped him abruptly as he tried to leave the room.

"Wait up, Ciel!"

Even as bad an idea it was, Ciel paused in place by the doorway for Alois. Alois swiftly caught Ciel's hand upon closing in to him, making quick work of dragging Ciel through the hallways just as he had been pulled around during the tour.

"What type of friend are you to try and leave class without me? Honestly, what manners…at this rate, we're going to nearly be late to bio'." Alois scolded him as he pulled Ciel along to biology.

"Wait a second-how do you know I have biology?" Ciel asked incredulously.

Alois paused for a mere second, but only as the two had made way to the biology classroom. Alois stopped and swiped a small schedule card from his pants pocket, giving it casually to Ciel.

He had somehow snatched Ciel's schedule from his bag during class when Ciel wasn't looking. Ciel was upset for his schedule to be touched, sure, but it was more interesting to know how exactly Alois had pulled that one feint.

"Explanations are irrelevant in the end, since we're friends. And friends overlook those sorts of things…"

"I'm pretty sure that's _not_ how friendships work." Ciel said in a low and snappy tone.

Ciel had never had many friends-if any to begin with besides Maylene, Sebastian, and _possibly_ Finnian…but he was pretty sure friends did not act as accordingly as _that_.

Alois bounced off into his seat at one of the large tables, multiple empty seats joined at the table. Ciel rolled his eyes, hoping to avoid sitting with Alois if possible. When he turned his body around to meet the teacher, he had not actually been expecting to see a tall pale male with unorganized hair and a live snake coiled firmly around his neck.

He thought it was a fake snake up unto the point where it flickered out its tongue after being watched long enough. Ciel tried to politely ignore the real snake before him as the teacher spoke, but that dancing tongue was strangely still catching his attention.

"Ciel, you'll be sitting at table 2…says Emily."

"Oh…ok. I'll…right away." Ciel said blankly as he peeled himself away to his table, only to find Alois's table merely a table away.

So for the rest of class while Ciel attempted to pay attention to the teacher with his lesson and snake, though in the background a couple of times he could have sworn Alois was whispering out his name and waving furiously to him. After class had to be lunch, and in which case, Ciel had been nicely prepared a full lunch by Sebastian. Ciel first stopped on his way out of biology to take out his lunch-

This again only gave Alois the advantage to catch up to him.

"Alois, I think I can handle lunch on my own."

"Aw…really? You don't want company? I mean, if you're into being lonely and all…"

"Alois, I appreciate the offer. Maybe…just another time." Ciel said flatly as he walked past Alois.

"B-but…Ciel, I…I mean, I…we…friends don't…"

But it was already too late as Ciel had left the biology room to eat his lunch, purposefully not looking back.

During lunch Ciel had no real intentions of sitting with any of his classmates. Instead, he sat idly around in the hallway against a wall peacefully. Not a single student passing by seemed to notice him, or say anything if they had. In his lunch Sebastian had packed a drink, a sandwich, and naturally something sweet such as a slice if cake. Once done with his lunch Ciel disposed properly of his trash and headed to his third class, which was NSL with Edward Abberline.

In class, the teacher immediately noticed Ciel. Ciel on the other hand, could've been easily fooled as he swore the teacher looked like a detective rather than a teacher for history. The tall man had shaggy auburn hair and blue eyes, a small mustache above his lips.

"Oh, you must be Ciel! Here, let me sit you…um…Next to Pluto right there."

Ciel stared idly at where the teacher pointed out, quickly recognizing the boy student from the day he had seen him in the nurse's office. Almost awkwardly Ciel took his seat beside him, not saying or looking over to Pluto. The silence between them made it only more uncomfortable, but seeing as things only could get less weird over time…

Until of course the female student from the tour, Miss Middleford, approached Ciel while squealing happily. Ciel turned his head in dismay, obligated to talk to her since she had spotted him.

"Ciel! I'm so excited to see you; you're in one of my classes with me!"

"Miss Middleford…"

"Oh, _please_…you can just call me Lizzie instead…"

"Um…sure, _Lizzie_…" Ciel said with little confidence.

There was surely no way to peel Lizzie off without Sebastian, was there? Ciel rolled his eyes away in another direction as Lizzie went ahead squealing and talking to Ciel without noticing in the least he was not paying attention. His gaze made its way to the door, where much to his horror-

In arrived Alois, who for now the third time today was in Ciel's class. This was _really_ becoming odd.

"Ciel, what's that face for? Is something-" Lizzie had begun to follow Ciel's gaze over at Alois, her nose quickly wrinkling in a distasteful manner without hesitation upon recognizing Alois.

Upon cue, Alois had bounced himself over to see Ciel. However, he bitterly returned Lizzie's look of disgust when having to stand near her. She pouted and put her hands on her hips; Alois crossed his arms sternly and glared her down.

"Lizzie."

"Alois."

"I'd ask why you're here instead of in the kitchen making sandwiches."

"Well, I'd ask why…why someone like _you_ is even at this school." Lizzie refuted.

Ciel quietly recoiled in his seat as Alois and Lizzie clearly were getting ready to take each other to pieces especially right in front of his own desk. Coming in to provide minimal help at cue, the teacher stepped forward and weakly separated Lizzie and Alois back to their seats.

"Children, please stop! We have lots of things to get through today!" The teacher barked loudly, but there were few people even listening to him.

For the remainder of NSL Ciel sat around and watched as the teacher attempted to explain concepts of government, aside from his own reoccurring difficulties such as forgetting terms. The class wasn't terrible to sit through, and at the end of class Lizzie promptly caught Ciel on the way out. Alois had left already, making it that much easier for Lizzie to trap Ciel. In an attempt at self-defense, Ciel showed her his schedule.

Maybe he could repel her if they didn't have the same next class…

"Since we have the next period together, I'll walk you Ciel. ~" Lizzie happily chimed, hugging her books to her flat chest.

Or of course, he could be trapped with Lizzie for one more painful class.

As expected, Lizzie blabbered endlessly as she dragged him along to Study Hall. Ciel excruciatingly put up with her voice, making an immediate separation from her to the instructor of the class when possible. He at first could have _sworn_ something was a bit off, since the instructor strangely resembled his math teacher with the same shaggy auburn hair and blue eyes-

But there was no mustache. Perhaps this man was his twin?

"You must be Ciel, huh? Well…let's see, for seating…there isn't much of a chart, so you for now can just sit anywhere." The bashful teacher spoke, trying to fix the papers on his desk.

Ciel nodded and turned around to look for a seat when to his absolute horror, there once more was Alois sitting at one of the desks. This was _beyond _weird.

"Best friend!" Alois hollered across the room, waving furiously from his seat.

"When…did this…you…are…" Ciel whispered in disbelief.

Ciel shook his head. If half his days were going to be filled with Alois encounters, he had better start subsiding his uneasy feeling about Alois.

So to start, he sat himself beside Alois. It felt like a terrible idea, but…

"I've seen you all day. Alois, are you…stalking me?"

"For your information, it's called following you in a premeditated manner."

Ciel slowly turned his head away. This was the worst choice he had made all day.

"But I'm _just_ joking of course…" Alois giggled, smiling back at Ciel who honestly could've been fooled at which point.

Ciel rolled his eyes and started to look in another direction when Alois yanked out his schedule and nearly shoved it in Ciel's face eagerly. Ciel recoiled at the proximity of the tiny paper in his face, and then after a few seconds hesitantly squinted closer and examined the invading paper.

Ciel frowned.

He had _every_ single class with Alois.

"Look, I have all these classes with you…" Alois cooed while leaning in closer to Ciel, "…so we must _surely_ be destined to be best friends."

"I…think that's what you call an error in the system, actually." Ciel mumbled in a low tone.

Alois laughed, all too happy to be spending all of his quality time in school with Ciel. And Ciel-

Oh, he had other plans. He would not be caught _dead_ spending all his days with that lunatic.

"Poor Alois, he can't take a hint…" Lizzie chimed in, having nicely snuck herself into a conversation that was not concerning her.

Alois put on the bitterest face yet, staring down Lizzie angrily. If looks could kill, Lizzie's demise would be imminent.

"I _still_ don't know why you're here and not in the kitchen to fulfill your purpose of making sandwiches." Alois said mockingly, glaring down Lizzie.

Ciel for the final period of the day spent his entire time curled up against his seat in hopes that he could avoid getting into the violent bickering of Alois and Lizzie, seeing as he stood absolutely _no_ chance in either side. By the time the period ended, Ciel was far from tired by simply watching the two fight over him. If there was any motivation left in his body to allow him to leave the building…

Sebastian.

How on earth could he have forgotten so easily? Ciel jammed all his belongings into his messenger bag before running as fast as his legs would carry him to the entrance he had come through earlier that morning. Forget the risk of triggering an asthma attack, Sebastian was waiting for him outside.

Ciel eagerly hopped down steps, his bag whipping in the wind behind Ciel as he raced down to meet a patiently waiting Sebastian, as promised. Ciel threw himself against Sebastian, only resulting in a seemingly weak fall toward Sebastian as his body was a _bit_ more exhausted than he had thought.

"I'm sure you are tired, so…let's go home, ok?" Sebastian laughed while maneuvering both Ciel and his things carefully into the car.

"You have no idea how worn out I am…" Ciel whispered, leaning back in his seat.

Once home, the rest of the evening with Sebastian was a surprisingly blurry one. Ciel ate and readied for bed, but only after Sebastian had to pry his clingy body from falling asleep against him. Ciel after a long day would have appreciated sleeping with Sebastian rather than in his own bed, but for argument's sake…he was too tired to put up a tantrum about it.

The next morning Ciel woke up feeling refreshed, seeing as he had slept off his previous fatigue. He prepared himself for school while Sebastian readied himself as well as a bit of Ciel. Sebastian as having done the prior day dropped Ciel at the empty entrance to the school, even waiting for Ciel to leave to the school.

The first class which Ciel had for the day was art. Art wasn't exactly _his_ choice to take, but Sebastian had somehow convinced him into taking such a ridiculous course. Once in the classroom, he was warmly greeted by a young adult-shaggy blond hair with blue eyes, this time wearing much fancier clothing than any of his other teachers…perhaps he also was a teacher?

"You…you must be Ciel! This is wonderful, yes! Please take a seat at any table you please! ~" The teacher swooned toward Ciel, melodramatically posing around in joy.

Ciel ignored and made his way past the teacher, inspecting each table for just the right seat. No sooner had he looked over to one of the front tables had he once more encountered Alois.

How he had forgotten Alois was in _every_ class with him…?

"Best friend!"

"Seriously…?" Ciel whined as he grudgingly took a seat beside Alois.

Ciel ended up spending an entire class period sitting next to Alois while the art teacher continued on ranting melodramatically about the beauty of anything he could find in the room, then lecturing about the true beauty of art in general. Shortly after the bell rung for the next class, Alois had somehow with great stealth snatched up Ciel's hand-

"C'mon! Friends always escort each other around!"

And again Alois began toting Ciel around. Alois this time was merely dragging him down to gym class, and then proceeded to leave Ciel alone for the time being as Ciel _should_ have been changing into his gym outfit. Instead, Ciel approached one of the gym teachers since it was nearly impossible to distinguish between the three violet haired teachers. Hopefully speaking, it was the right teacher…

"You can just sit and watch today since you don't have your gym clothes." The violet haired man addressed Ciel after a simple glance over, apparently knowing just the issue.

Ciel nodded casually and sat himself on the bleachers out by the track. He idly watched his class run along the track, but in particular Alois was putting on quite the eye-catching show. It was one thing for him to be faster than perhaps a couple students in the class, sure-

But Alois was practically running laps around everyone else. He sped past students who were clearly running, making it look all too easy. Alois didn't seem out of breath even once, which seemed a little curious when considering where all that stamina Alois had come from.

As lunchtime arrived, Alois perhaps had in actuality worn himself out, as for when there was the perfect opportunity for Alois to kidnap Ciel to join him at lunch, he didn't even _try_ to. Rather, Alois went off on his own in an unfamiliar route from Ciel. Seizing the chance to be free from Alois for lunch Ciel didn't bother to follow him.

For lunch Ciel was wondering around first to find the right place to eat in the hallways. He chose to eat nearby one of the trashcans for his own convenience for when he would finish eating. This _would_ have been a good place to eat if at about half-way through his lunch Ciel had not heard an overly familiar squealing voice of Lizzie from around the other side of the corner. Nervously as well as carefully he snuck away and further down another hallway to find a new place to eat when he came across Alois eating.

There was Alois, casually sitting all by himself against the wall as he silently ate his lunch. Ciel would take his chances sitting with Alois for lunch if he avoided Lizzie. Alois turned and looked over at Ciel once he had heard Ciel sitting himself nearby, his face quickly lighting up for a split second.

"Sorry to join you, Lizzie was just…you know…right over there." Ciel apologized as he sat himself down beside Alois.

And just as quick as Alois's face had lit up, the entirety of his happiness has vanquished at the muttering of Lizzie's name. He frowned and looked away from Ciel, his liveliness drained.

"Lizzie, huh? Well…if you're so concerned about her…" Alois mumbled under his breath quietly as he stood up slowly, revealing a forced smile as he continued inching away and around the corner, "Then I'll move myself. After all, it wouldn't be good if people saw you hanging out with trash like me…"

"No, Alois, I didn't mean to…that's not…"

Alois snorted loudly, almost jokingly-

But at himself as he was still walking himself away from Ciel.

"No, it's fine. I know I used to be trashy, and maybe I still am. I mean, who am I to say that living on the streets doesn't make me absolute trash too, you know?" Alois chuckled as he strode off from Ciel.

_Maybe I don't give him enough credit._

Ciel recoiled at a delay, his mind processing Alois's words.

Alois was noisy, extremely hyper, and practically clinging to Ciel whenever he felt like it. Lizzie had called Alois multiple things in front of Ciel, especially trash when she became frustrated with Alois, but even so-

There was no real reason for Alois to be considered trash. For others to have to be audacious enough to tell him to his face was wrong, but if even _Alois_ believed them, well-something was certainly wrong there. Surely Alois didn't deserve that.

Ciel pulled himself to his feet upon remembering how fast he had seen Alois move. If he could find Alois he'd feel better, which was _probably_ a long shot if Alois wasn't planning on slowing down to be found any time soon. Ciel cut around corners and past students in the hallway in a hurry to find Alois. He didn't have the time left during lunch to fool around if he wanted to spot Alois before class.

Ciel shook his head in disbelief as he ran; knowing after five minutes of searching Alois was not going to show up any time soon, he paused to take a break against a wall.

"Hey, you there. You're the new kid, aren't you?"

Ciel glanced over to find a single male student addressing only Ciel, seeing as it was only the two of them in the hallway. Ciel nodded slowly, not sure who this student was-shoulder length shaggy blond hair and blue eyes, Ciel had never seen him previously.

"Um…I guess."

The boy stepped forward and looked over Ciel. _Not_ a good sign.

"Are you the guy Elizabeth walked to Study Hall yesterday?" His voice progressively churning into something low and hostile

"Well…_she_ dragged _me_, but…I mean…"

Right before his eyes, Ciel swore for a second the student had moved dangerously closer to him. Ciel was intent on running away, had his body cooperated rather than nearly shutting down into a panic attack right there.

"I see you've got the audacity to walk with Elizabeth to classes. If it wasn't obvious already, you're not fit as the new kid to be walking around her like that. Next time I hear it happens, I'll-"

The level of intimidation had amazing dropped in a spilt second as the male student miraculously dropped to his knees. Ciel in horror cowered, a panic attack surely looking possible at any moment. The male student remained at his knees however, only groaning in copious discomfort while rubbing his face-

And behind him stood an undeniably _pissed_ Alois.

If there was ever a moment so far Ciel had been glad to see Alois's goofy face, now was then. Alois cracked his knuckles loudly, leaving Ciel with the mental note that Alois could _easily_ take down someone his own size.

"Next time you try to lay your piece of shit hands on my best friend here, I will do more than fuck up your face…Are we understood? Good." Alois growled in a low tone, leaving not only Ciel behind at the wall but the male student writhing in pain on the ground.

"Alois?" Ciel quietly asked, seeing as Alois wasn't about to turn around.

Ingeniously putting his things together, Ciel hurried from the scene of the male student without hesitation when the bell rang. He really couldn't even begin to feel bad for the guy, even as he had taken an amazingly potent punch to the face from Alois.

The guy _had_ nearly pushed Ciel to a panic attack, and therefore he had it coming.

In the class after lunch, Ciel entered his math class. Already standing idly at the classroom entrance was the teacher-dressed formally as any other teacher, his orange-blond hair on one side neatly brushed while the other half of his hair was black and equally organized. He wore glasses, but these were confusingly tinted.

"Ciel, you sit by Pluto there." The teacher directed him, pointing at the seat aside Pluto.

Awkwardly Ciel sat in the desk beside Pluto again. Things weren't too much more awkward until Alois entered the room and sat behind Ciel. It wasn't extremely awkward, but for Ciel to sit in the seat of Alois the entire class without an opportunity to turn backwards and thank Alois for lunch…

It felt a bit tense between them. To try and fix this, Ciel this time attempted to stop Alois on his way out the door.

"Alois, wait up, I…"

"Ciel?"

Ciel nervously tried to formulate the right words. He wanted to thank him; to tell him that at least _he_ didn't think Alois was trash, but all Ciel could manage in the end was an apology.

"I wanted to thank you for at lunch, Alois."

"That was nothing." Alois flatly shrugged off as he walked off to his next class without Ciel.

Ciel sighed and shook his head in disbelief. At least he was _trying_.

Alone Ciel made his way to his last class, French. By the door once more was his teacher waiting with a clipboard-he moved his glasses up his nose, brushing aside his short brown hair while blinking his vividly green eyes. Ciel waited to be told where to sit again, hoping it wouldn't be near Pluto again-

Not that he saw Pluto in the room, but to be put in that awkward a seat…

"Ok, and so Ciel…you'll sit next to…Miss Middleford."

But of course, sitting awkwardly next to Pluto was better any day than sitting beside Lizzie.

Ciel slowly sat himself beside her, while trying to ignore the deafening squeals of Lizzie. If he could get through just sitting next to her for this one class, he wouldn't have to see her again until at worst, NSL the next day.

_That_ was worth holding out for.

"Ciel! ~" Lizzie squealed.

On the Brightside, Lizzie's persistent squealing only lasted for a good minute or two more as Alois entered the class. _That_ shut her up, especially as Alois sat directly behind _her_ this time.

It was almost laughable until she turned around and started a glaring match.

"Alois."

"Lizzie."

Alois moved his face closer to hers; growling and baring his teeth at her while she pouted and glared in response. Naturally, the rivalry between the two once more had lasted throughout the entire class, only pausing now and again when the teacher called on either of them. After class Ciel packed his belongings and nearly bolted out the door to meet up with Sebastian when Lizzie casually stopped him.

"Hey Ciel, how about I walk you out?" Lizzie said happily after sending Alois one last glare, clearly sending him a 'boot out' message.

Ciel watched past Lizzie as Alois never turned back to respond. He was yet _again_ taking hits from Lizzie.

"Lizzie, I…I'll see you tomorrow." Ciel yelped as he quickly dashed past Lizzie.

"Ciel?"

Running was not a good idea, Ciel had discovered shortly after exhausting himself with tracking down Alois. He hadn't lost trail of Alois, he simply couldn't maintain a reasonable pace to catch him…

Ciel paused and stooped down to search through his messenger bag, pulling out a relatively moderate weighed book-

There was more than one way to successfully slow down Alois, apparently, as Ciel winged it and send the book gravitating into Alois who tripped at the impact and fell to the ground. Success.

Alois rubbed the back of his head as Ciel approached him, stooping down to scoop up his book. Alois frowned rather than spitting out something terrible to say, luckily speaking.

"I know you were mad about me taking your schedule, Ciel-but _damn!_ Did you have to throw a book?"

"You move too fast."

"You could have called my name!" Alois whined, wincingly rubbing his head.

Ciel paused once he had placed his book properly within his bag. He pulled himself to his feet, walking away slowly in a hesitant manner before pivoting back to face Alois.

"Well, you should have known better than to leave me behind…since you never leave your best friend behind, right?" Ciel inquired flatly, offering his hand out to Alois.

"C-Ciel!" Alois stuttered with a dumbfounded expression.

Ciel rolled his eyes at Alois, waiting patiently for Alois this time to take his own hand.

_And perhaps he isn't all that bad in the end._

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/I went soft. I made characters into teachers.

I hope everyone can identify the characters, right? (Aleister Chamber, Snake, Charles Phipps, Eric Slingsby, Alan Humphries, the Triplets, Edward Abberline and Fred Abberline. King Edward V was the bully.)

And yes, Lizzie gets friendlier later. The young Pluto is simply awkward because he's so shy…

I'm sure someone out there cheered when Alois nailed Edward in the face. I was happy to have Alois nail someone in the face the first chapter he appears. Don't worry, you will be getting your Claude and lemon soon...

As next time it'll be a split chapter, with promised lemon and a truly jealous Ciel.

Thank you for the reads and reviews until next time! /


	12. Attention

Disclaimer; I do not own any part of Kuroshitsuji. Be warned, there is strong yaoi later on.

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As expected of Alois, he had bounced back immediately to his feet and followed Ciel eagerly. Ciel paid little mind to the stirred Alois as they walked together, since it was more or less his own fault for igniting him. Alois's skipping and brief nonsensical comments to Ciel didn't bother him to an extreme, but every few steps Ciel would turn and reply something back just as silly.

Walking with Alois, however, was quite short lived-

As they passed through one of the last hallways on the way outside something rather loud buzzed from Alois's pocket. Both turned and watched as Alois pulled through his pockets, a tiny vibrating device humming out to Alois. Alois sighed and gazed back at Ciel.

"Ciel, I think I…I think I have to go."

"Oh, alright." Ciel said nonchalantly, waving Alois off.

Alois nodded slowly, waving one last time to Ciel before rushing back off from the direction he had just entirely walked with Ciel. He smiled and giggled as he bounded off.

"Don't have too much fun without me, okay?"

Ciel rolled his eyes. Alois would hardly be boring as a friend.

"No guarantees." Ciel barked back, making his way on course to outside where Sebastian had been waiting.

Sebastian with all his normal affability stood by the car, smiling and patiently waiting for Ciel. Ciel hopped down the stairs and over to Sebastian, who easily took the weight of the messenger bag from Ciel's shoulder. Ciel mumbled something quietly as he briefly put himself to Sebastian's chest.

"You look exhausted." Sebastian whispered, carefully pulling Ciel in.

_School isn't terrible._

"You have no idea." Ciel groaned, recalling it had only been two days of school already and so much had happened in such a short time span.

After being driven back home, Sebastian as again prepared a meal for Ciel and himself. They sat down together to eat, both quietly across the table. Sebastian smiled as he ate, sometimes looking up to Ciel as he ate.

"So, how is school?"

"It's good. The teachers are a bit odd, but…overall, it's not that bad. I even made a friend today." Ciel said plainly, shrugging as he spoke.

_Even if I do have Alois at school, I guess-_

Sebastian smiled.

"Is that so? Well, I'm very proud of you."

"You say it like you didn't believe in me…" Ciel mumbled, a faint glare surfacing toward Sebastian.

"That's not what I meant. I just…I'm _glad_ you made a friend. Maybe then you won't be lonely at school without me there?" Sebastian teased, a smirk curling over his lips.

Ciel snorted, turning his head and nearly pouting as he looked in another direction.

"Don't be stupid. _Of course_ I would be fine." Ciel said in a low tone, scowling.

But _that_ was a bit of a stretch. Ciel did now have Alois at school to keep him company in all his classes, along now with Lizzie fighting for attention as well.

He had no reason to be lonely, yet…

_I can still get a little lonely without Sebastian_.

Sebastian stood up from his seat and closed in on Ciel's seat as if he were to clear his place. Instead, he pulled Ciel into his chest, ruffling his hair from behind with one hand. Ciel gave out a small groan but didn't pull away.

_Maybe Sebastian has made me a bit spoiled..._

"You know I'm only teasing you." Sebastian cooed in a soft voice.

Ciel mumbled something faint before slowly easing himself into Sebastian's chest. Sebastian chuckled quietly at the very sheepish Ciel, who still wouldn't look at Sebastian.

"Whatever."

And awkwardly silent, there stood Ciel with Sebastian for some good two or so minutes until the silence was broken by Sebastian. Hardly something to be amused by, Sebastian was staring off at the cats gathered by the door rather paying attention to Ciel.

"Oh, look-the feral cats are here." Sebastian pointed out immediately upon noticing the group of cats waiting at the door.

"What?" Ciel spat out in confusion, not exactly sure how Sebastian switched so easily over.

Easily and without warning Sebastian detached himself from Ciel to go visit the cats. Ciel remained in place, having thought it would have played out differently.

But seeing as Sebastian was apparently a cat freak, Ciel began walking himself off to get ready for bed.

_Since I don't want to share him._

"Ciel, the cats are very friendly."

"I'll pass, since I still have to get ready for bed." Ciel said flatly without looking back.

Right _then_ should have been when Ciel resumed Sebastian's full attention. Instead, however, Sebastian remained at the door.

"I'll get your bath ready Ciel, after I'm done with the cats…"

Ciel didn't pout or throw a tantrum-no, he held it inside.

Those cats had to go.

Ciel readied himself for a bath while Sebastian finished up idling himself with the cats. Once done he prepared the bath for Ciel as if he had not just ditched Ciel for measly cats before going back to whatever business he had. Ciel avoided saying anything to Sebastian.

Sebastian was smart enough to notice eventually that Ciel didn't like it, right?

Or so Ciel hoped. Ciel already had enough things to worry over, and perhaps this wouldn't be one of those.

After the bath Ciel drained the tub and finished up to find Sebastian quietly sitting around on the other side of the couch. More of a joke than anything Ciel tried to slide his arms over the couch and reach around Sebastian whom immediately recognized his presence.

Ciel wasn't tall, sure, but at least he was _trying_ when it came to peeking over Sebastian's shoulder.

"What are you doing?" Ciel asked casually, wrapping his arms around Sebastian from behind.

Sebastian laughed or something of that sort, his chest vibrating. Ciel tried once more to peek over the obstructive couch.

"Just waiting for you." Sebastian answered smoothly, closing some sort of book.

Ciel snorted in a mocking way, walking around the couch to sit himself beside Sebastian. If _now_ Sebastian wanted Ciel to himself, fine. He could play along.

"Really now. And how's that working for you?" Ciel snidely responded, giving Sebastian a questioning look.

Sebastian leaned forward Ciel, putting his book aside. He smiled, nodding casually.

"Oh, I would say it's going very well…especially since it's going just as planned."

Ciel recoiled, his head jerking back momentarily in utter confusion. _Something_ was certainly off about what Sebastian had just said, so Ciel opened his mouth to ask Sebastian-

Except for when Sebastian swiftly decided to sneak one of his hands up from hiding behind Ciel, which Ciel for one had not even been aware of, and pulled Ciel directly into him. It left Ciel sitting on Sebastian's lap as Sebastian's hand remained positioned on Ciel's side. Ciel rolled his eyes expectantly right at Sebastian, who continued to smile.

"Seriously, you are just…" Ciel groaned at Sebastian, trying his best to ignore Sebastian planting small pecks all over Ciel's cheek.

Sebastian leaned in, closing in on Ciel slowly as his lips moved just inches from the side of Ciel's neck. Ciel restricted a shudder rather than bothering to push Sebastian away.

"I'm _what_? I couldn't hear you properly…" Sebastian whispered, his breath dancing along the fragile skin of Ciel.

Ciel stretched out to the side with slight awkwardness, his body attempting to shift in the direction away from Sebastian. Sebastian clearly had little self-control as he casually kept on with leaving trails of soft kisses down the side of Ciel's neck, regardless of Ciel in the meantime shyly trying to squirm about.

Ciel breathed as slow as he could to catch his breath and tried to turn and face Sebastian, ignoring the shivers running down his sides becoming quite the hindrance. Sebastian paused momentarily upon noticing Ciel having turned his head as if allowing Ciel to take a break.

"Sebastian…I was thinking earlier…if I was allergic to something you really loved…like cats…would you get rid of them for me?" Ciel asked in a discreet manner.

"Well, cats… are cute yes. And I _do_ like cats…but yes. I would for you."

Ciel paused also, looking down at his lap before nodding and looking back at Sebastian who returned a careful gaze. Perhaps asking questions ruined the moment, but…

"Good answer."

"Pardon?"

Satisfied with Sebastian's answer, Ciel easily removed himself from the bewildered Sebastian's lap. After all, he had school the next day. So there Ciel left Sebastian sitting on the couch that time around. It wasn't a spiteful thing; so much as it was Ciel going on with his own business. Ciel tucked himself into his own bed again without hassle from Sebastian.

The next morning Ciel woke up slowly, but surely. Sebastian nudged him around in his sheets a bit in order to get Ciel up and going. Once up, Ciel dressed himself promptly for school before eating breakfast. For breakfast Sebastian had not sat down at the table with Ciel to eat.

Instead, he was by the door playing with the cats.

Ciel ignored Sebastian in return for ignoring him at breakfast. Sebastian however seemingly entirely missed the cues from the annoyed Ciel and carried on as normally when following the morning schedule by dropping off Ciel at school.

At school, Ciel wasted little time returning into a glum-like state. He laid his head on his desk, spacing out for quite a while, that he even he had lost track of time. Perhaps if he stayed just like that all day long, it would be ok. Sebastian could keep playing with his cats and forget to pick up Ciel. It was ok, if Sebastian was happy like that…

"Ciel…what happened?"

Ciel painstakingly lifted his head from the desk, gazing over at Alois. Alois had his hands on his hips and gazed over at Ciel curiously, probably wondering what had come over Ciel.

He wouldn't have liked to admit it, but maybe talking with Alois wasn't too overrated.

"I'm…having love troubles." Ciel whispered in his softest, most inaudible voice.

"_Oh_, well I know all about those. You see, I too have this I love, and well…" Alois said lowly, clearing his throat carefully before finishing, "…it wasn't too pretty when he let me get jealous. I tried releasing those canaries he had, but…it turned out he had clipped their wings and so…they, um…died."

"You killed canaries?" Ciel asked incredulously, only pulling the detail of killing canaries from Alois's poor attempt at advice.

"Well, it was an accident."

"Right, like tossing canaries out a window was an accident."

"…Ok, _that_ part wasn't an accident."

"You are a monster, you know?" Ciel reminded Alois.

Alois shrugged as he slowly placed himself back in his seat. Alois wasn't _actually_ a monster, as they both knew, but surely his methods were beyond quirky to achieve his goals. For instance, the entire amount of effort Alois had put forth to become Ciel's friend was a bit overly done, but…

"Whatever, at least it worked in the end. He won't keep any canaries now."

Perhaps effective in the end?

Ciel refrained from commenting on Alois. Rather, he quietly kept to himself for most of the school day. Ciel never brought the topic back up with Alois, but that didn't mean he stopped thinking about it. Aside from the uncalled for way that Alois had dealt with jealousy, who was to say that the idea overall of getting rid of disrupting objects things such as perhaps the cats from Sebastian wasn't an admirable cause? If Ciel formulated an authentic enough lie, there was a possibility Ciel could pull off something the next time he saw the cats.

Well, Ciel was up for trying.

After school Ciel walked out of the building again without Alois, seeing as Alois had once more an urgent calling to be elsewhere. Ciel hopped down the steps to where Sebastian awaited him with the car. Sebastian looked as happy waiting as he usually did, so perchance the cats had not shown up since that morning? Ciel didn't bother to ask, he would find out soon enough upon returning home.

And much to Ciel's luck, there were no cats; none at the door and certainly none inside for that matter. Sebastian glanced out to the door a few times as did Ciel, but surely they weren't on the same page. Ciel wanted them out for _good_.

"What's wrong, Ciel?"

Ciel turned and glanced over to Sebastian whom had only recently caught Ciel staring aimlessly outside. Of all the excuses Ciel could have come up with, all he could focus on was getting rid of the cats.

"Well, the leaves have started to fall and it's been dry out lately…so I was thinking if I had a bucket of water I could wet the leaves and then they would clump together so it would be easier to rake them." Ciel lied casually, knowing that it sounded reasonable.

It _was_ in the middle of October, and the leaves _were_ honestly dropping like flies. Ciel hadn't seen Sebastian rake leaves since they were living in an apartment, but that didn't mean Sebastian wouldn't become bothered enough by the overcrowding of leaves to just stand around and allow then to clutter. It wasn't to say either that Sebastian was gullible or anything, but if Ciel sounded sincere enough…

"It's not a bad idea, I guess. I can get you a bucket if you're actually interested in doing that." Sebastian said with slight hesitation.

Ciel nodded, following after Sebastian as he had prepared a small bucket just for Ciel to carry. Sebastian in no way really suspected Ciel of such spiteful things, did he?

Taking away cats from Sebastian seemed all too easy as Ciel carefully waltzed himself out the door, down past the bottom of the stairs and slightly past where the trash area was. Before him lounged around close to four or five cats, most likely ones that had taken over the vicinity which Ciel once sat in since he longer occupied space in that area.

In the end Sebastian was only to blame for Ciel dousing the felines with water. If Sebastian had not made the cats friendly, they would have known better than to approach strangers such as Ciel. If Sebastian had not taken more kindly to the cats over Ciel, surely Ciel wouldn't have had much reason to begin with to loathe those cats.

If Sebastian hadn't ignored Ciel, perhaps his dear cats wouldn't have to be shooed off the hard way.

Once finished dumping the bucket of water around on the cats that bolted off in multiple directions, Ciel calmly as if nothing had happened walked himself back up the stairs after first making sure in the process of spilling the water he had at least watered _some_ leaves. There was no use in making up a lame excuse and then getting caught for it.

Inside Sebastian welcomed him back and put away the bucket, fully unaware of having helped Ciel drive away cats. Sebastian asked casually if Ciel had done okay, and Ciel just as casually in response agreed.

The plan itself of driving the cats off seemed fairly silly in actuality. Seeing as later, however, that no more cats appeared for the rest of the night-

That was going nicely as planned.

The next morning Ciel woke up routinely with Sebastian nudging him around. For breakfast Sebastian sat down at the table with Ciel the entire time, seeing as though the cats were nowhere to be found. Ciel refrained from gloating as he had won that round. After breakfast Sebastian dropped Ciel off at school normally.

Inside the building Ciel made his way to his first class where Alois had already started to wait for him at a table. Alois eagerly waved Ciel over, patting the seat next to him frantically. The enthusiasm of Alois was a bit worrisome.

"Ciel, I have decided that I must know all about this lover of yours."

Of all the stupid things for Alois to begin the morning with, he _had_ to know about Sebastian?

"Why are you so suddenly interested?" Ciel asked cautiously.

Alois cleared his throat and posed himself heroically in his seat-

He meant business, perhaps?

"Clearly, as I am your best friend and I will eventually meet this person, I would like to be familiar with her-"

"For starters, he-"

And for a brief moment, there was silence between them. Ciel clasped his hands tightly over his mouth and Alois opened his mouth widely as if a large breathe or gasp for air would occur.

Ciel had _not_ meant to leak that out.

"What's that…she's a _he_…?" Alois whispered in a low and suspicious way, leaning forward to Ciel.

Ciel looked away sheepishly. He really needed to watch what he said.

"You can relax." Alois said cheerfully, bouncing back to a happy mode, "The guy _I_ love is like…twenty-something. It's cool, Ciel, I know how older men are."

"I mean…Sebastian's…twenty-something too…" Ciel admitted weakly.

Alois giggled for a moment before nearly squeezing Ciel into some sort of awkward embrace. Ciel wasn't really sure what was going on, but he assumed it was a congratulatory hug-

Not that he really got those, but just this once he'd let it slide.

After a long school day of classes and hanging around with Alois, Ciel found himself time again being deserted by Alois whom had been called off elsewhere. Alone he walked out of the school on his way down to Sebastian, hopping over steps. Sebastian was waiting at the bottom by the car for Ciel today, though this time surely-

_Something_ was up.

Ciel was pretty familiar with the basic expressions Sebastian had shown him already, but something was a little off about his look he had today. He wasn't angry, nor was he euphoric. It was more of just an in between look. Ciel cautiously put his things in the car, slowly awaiting Sebastian to act differently.

"Ciel, I have something for you at home." Sebastian said casually, looking over at Ciel with the same confusingly signals.

"Oh…ok."

Ciel wouldn't have minded a gift from Sebastian if it hadn't been said in such an odd manner. The gift could have very well been something good, but in context, it just seemed rather worrisome.

Once driven home Sebastian slowly returned to normal by making a snack for Ciel. Gradually as Ciel ate his snack he slunk back into a more relaxed state. If Sebastian was normal again, making snacks and being nice, then there was no need to worry about him.

"The doctor's office sent me a fax today with your health records. I guess I was a little surprised to see you have asthma, so I went and got you an inhaler." Sebastian said sheepishly, handing over an inhaler to the palm of Ciel.

Ciel weakly forced a smile. He had maybe forgotten to tell Sebastian about _that_ detail.

"Thanks." Ciel said in an awkwardly thankful way while slowly moving himself from the table to his room, going to put away the inhaler somewhere safe before he forgot.

Ciel didn't skip over to his room or anything, but he moved relatively fast anyhow. The inhaler rolled around idly with imbalance in the palm of Ciel's hand as he moved. It was somehow fascinating just to watch the thing move around…

But it wasn't like Ciel had a short attention span or anything! He…just hadn't had his own inhaler for years, and it was nice to have one. Perhaps Ciel could carry it around on him at school? _That_ would be wonderful, should anyone or thing snap Ciel into a panic attack any time soon.

"But after I dropped back home earlier, I noticed that there were wet cats by the door. And frankly, it had me a little concerned, so…Ciel, I believe we should have a talk."

Ciel froze mid-step.

Not _fully_ caught red-handed, but Sebastian had drawn the right conclusions. It was a matter of time before Sebastian caught him in another string of lies-

And it would probably not be pretty.

"I…I have homework, so right now is kind of, you know-" Ciel started to lie away lamely, hoping Sebastian wouldn't be right on the ball with guessing he had finished all his homework in class.

"Ciel, I'm not going to scold you. We'll just _talk_."

Ciel was _absolutely _sure something didn't sound right there. Sebastian talked sometimes with hints of edginess toward subjects, but this was not one of them. It was practically a trap above all else, considering the way Sebastian had coaxed him out with the snack…

Ciel quickly regained movement and hastily started up maneuvering himself back to his room. He had nearly reached his room when Sebastian stopped him.

"_Ciel_." Sebastian said with a flicker of annoyance in his voice, stopping Ciel dead in his tracks for sure before he finished, "The cats don't come out when it's wet, and yesterday you had a bucket of water. All I'd like to know is if you threw water on the cats."

Ciel closed his mouth.

He was not going to dig his own grave deeper.

"Ciel, I'm not trying-"

"Leave me alone." Ciel snapped, whirling around momentarily to glare at the _very_ pushy Sebastian.

And there it was, the first time that Ciel had really actually _snapped_ at Sebastian.

It wasn't liberating, and it surely wasn't going to make Ciel feel better any time soon. In fact, a mix of Ciel's guilt and anger quickly surfaced once Sebastian gave him space to be in his room all by himself. He hid under the covers, sniffling away.

It was a good question how long he stayed sniffling under the covers in solitude. The sniffling got old easily, and he just about gave in to apologizing when Sebastian finally decided to check on Ciel. Ciel didn't have to peek past the covers to notice when Sebastian had sat himself down on the bed. If Ciel was correct, the frictional feeling from the other side of the covers was coming from Sebastian.

He was perhaps trying to rub where he though Ciel's back was?

"Ciel"

Ciel tried to stop sniffling long enough to listen to Sebastian.

"You can relax. I'm not…mad. I read the health records earlier, and I remembered when you asked me about choosing sides with the cats or you, so…I understand that you don't like cats. But at the same time, Ciel, I was just thinking…there _had _to be a nicer way to get rid of the cats if they're such a problem. So next time, maybe you and I can think of a more appropriate solution?" Sebastian said quietly, leaning over and hugging his weight around the large clump of covers under which Ciel hid.

Ciel huffed out a last sniffle before wiggling around strenuously. He could at least show his face to Sebastian, if anything. With some effort he squirmed out from under the covers. As almost expected of Sebastian, he wrapped his arms around Ciel while pulling him in.

Ciel didn't fight him off. Instead, he leaned back against Sebastian idly.

"This is stupid."

"Ciel?"

"We keep fighting over the lamest things."

"Well, that's normal. Couples are allowed to feud."

Ciel glanced at Sebastian, his face filled with awe. They were a _couple_?

"I didn't know we were a couple…I mean, we don't do very couple-like things…"

"What type of couple-like things were you thinking of?" Sebastian asked in a funny tone, almost as if he were to be amused.

Ciel shook his head and waved his hand in a shooing manner. He had already said more than enough again. Sebastian jokingly poked around on his cheek. Of course, as an adult, _he_ would find it funny for Ciel to be awkward.

Ciel shrugged, not having really thought of any good examples of what couples did. Couples…

They held hands and hugged, right? Or, they did really intimate things, like…um...bathing and sleeping together?

Ciel's cheeks burned up.

"I-I don't know…sleeping together or…or…um…I mean, not that I'm in any rush to do those sorts of things-" Ciel shyly slurred his words together while turning his face away from Sebastian.

Sebastian laughed. Of course, Sebastian had done those things before hadn't he?

"Ciel, look at me."

Ciel shyly looked up Sebastian, his flushed cheeks going along nicely with his all too nervous face. Sebastian carefully pulled Ciel back to him. Once in his grip he slowly tilted up Ciel's chin with one hand and held Ciel firmly at the waist with the other. Ciel hesitantly glanced away, seeing as Sebastian wasn't necessarily moving along fast enough to force him into it, but-

He wanted to do couple things with Sebastian, right? And kissing would probably be the easiest thing to start with, so…

Ciel glanced back at Sebastian and gracelessly pushed his lips to Sebastian's. There wasn't more than a weak force behind Ciel's lips, but it was enough for a small hinting feel of warmth. Sebastian smiled and his lips curled upwards against the feeble and effortlessly movable lips of Ciel.

Perhaps Ciel had started the kiss wrong? Ciel drew back his head while putting on a small pout. His inexperience was not to be mocked, even as Sebastian slowly eased Ciel's lips back against his own. This time in a more organized manner Ciel firmly kept his head in place as Sebastian gently probed open his lips, somewhat gentle as he used his tongue. Ciel resisted flinching at the unfamiliar feeling of a tongue other than his own occupying space within his small mouth.

It wasn't a _bad_ feeling, per se, but a tongue dwelling within his mouth wasn't very…_usual_ of a feeling. Ciel didn't fight it, but the way Sebastian was gradually conquering his mouth he wasn't sure too sure there was much chance at stopping him anytime soon.

So there sat Ciel and Sebastian on Ciel's bed, kissing. Ciel had become maybe a little _too_ engrossed to realize he had gotten his first kiss. In fact Sebastian had nearly seemed to forget this too until something in the moment of it all had reminded him-

Was it the way Ciel so sheepishly attempted to grab ahold of Sebastian as they kissed? Or maybe Sebastian somewhere in the back of his mind the idea of Ciel kissing him had triggered the question of whether or not Ciel was experiencing his first kiss? Whatever the reason, Sebastian pulled himself off Ciel.

Ciel coughed weakly after release. _Now_ he could breathe again properly, thanks to Sebastian who had been practically blocking one of his air passages. He wasn't really sure why Sebastian had broken off the kiss, which left him sitting on the bed and panting for breath until Sebastian's next move.

"I'll be right back. I should probably…in case of anything, you know…" Sebastian said lowly to Ciel as he motioned for Ciel to remain seated on the bed as he fetched something.

Ciel nodded quietly as he continued to pant for air. He _definitely_ had no idea where this was going with Sebastian. He trusted Sebastian, whatever he wanted to do, but…

It would've helped if Ciel knew what he was getting himself into for starters.

Once having returned to the room, Sebastian seemed noticeably more cautious. He sat himself down on the bed next to Ciel, a square wrapper of some sort in his palm. Ciel peered over at the wrapper carefully, noticing a strange clear circular band inside the wrapper.

Whatever it was, it certainly wasn't candy.

"Ciel, this is…for well…I was saving the right moment for this sort of talk, but I…I don't really even-"

"Whatever." Ciel said flatly, exchanging glances from the funny wrapper and then back to Sebastian.

Sebastian nervously seemed to force a laugh toward Ciel. It wasn't like Ciel was kidding, nor being funny. The real joke was Ciel not knowing what he was getting himself into, wasn't it? Ciel shrugged and looked away from the strange wrapper casually.

"Ciel, I…"

"I wouldn't have let you kiss me if I didn't like it, so…things like that with you are…fine." Ciel said casually.

Sebastian sighed and dropped his head in what looked like relief. Ciel rolled his eyes at him expectantly before this time trying to more carefully aim for Sebastian's lips to start the kiss once more. Sebastian let out a low noise along the borderlines of a hum, jokingly allowing Ciel to try and dominate the kiss-

This sadly was still difficult to do, as Sebastian regardless of being occupied with other things like laying Ciel on his back and opening the strange wrapper, continued to dominate the kiss. Apparently, a multi-tasker like Sebastian could manage to top Ciel without trying. That would have been appealing in some ways if Sebastian had actually meant to be showing off.

Sebastian pulled back from the kiss and showed Ciel the foreign wrapper, now empty. The once clear circular band had expanded out to something more of the shape similar to the finger sheaths on a glove. Ciel tilted his head to the side. If it clearly wasn't candy and it wasn't part of a glove…

What _was_ it?

Sebastian leaned in toward Ciel, planting tiny kisses down the side of Ciel's neck. Ciel let out a small sigh of impatience. He hadn't told Sebastian to hurry with these sorts of things, but if Sebastian was going to seriously prolong showing him the use of the funny looking sheath anytime soon, he was losing interest.

"Ciel, you're not going to like this next part. I suggest you hold onto something, because I'm sure you'll be a bit uncomfortable at first."

"Sebastian, if it's uncomfortable, then why would you do that sort of-_thing?_" Ciel started to ask until something that certainly did _not_ belong there probed at his entrance.

Ciel looked down in horror, watching as Sebastian's finger covered in a layer of something slippery looking such as saliva poked around his entrance. Last time Ciel checked, things did _not_ go in there-

_Especially_ Sebastian's finger!

Ciel reached out and clung his hardest onto Sebastian's back, seeing as there was not much else he could do but resist writhing painfully as Sebastian maneuvered entry below. Sebastian carefully inserted a second and third finger below to stretch Ciel. Ciel continued to writhe painfully with his nails indenting nice souvenir crescent marks on Sebastian.

Not that a few marks from Ciel's nails were enough to stop Sebastian. In fact Ciel could have sworn Sebastian was in more of a rush directly after that, seeing as Sebastian finally finished up stretching Ciel's entrance as it would allow before fully slipping down Ciel's clothing below the waist. Swiftly afterwards Sebastian removed his own pants without difficulty. Then finally Sebastian looked as if he were about to put on the strange sheath-

And, well…_that_ was a tad bit embarrassing to watch. How was Ciel supposed to watch as Sebastian put on that _thing_? Ciel sheepishly looked away, focusing down on his own entrance. The wet and slippery feeling was still there, but to mess with it probably wasn't a bright plan…

"Ciel, I promise I won't use saliva again. I don't like the idea of using spit, either."

"Well, I mean…good. It's too sticky for _whatever_ you're doing."

Sebastian smiled with a pause, and then laughed.

"Ciel, you'll understand in a moment. But first, I'm going to need you to hold onto something again."

"Please don't tell me you're probing me _there_ again."

"Oh no, it's a bit more than that. So please, if you will..?" Sebastian reminded him quietly while Ciel instead remained grasping onto Sebastian's back for support.

Ciel firmed his grip and nodded to Sebastian. Sebastian quietly nodded while probing Ciel at the entrance again. Ciel flinched for sure, because he didn't have to look to know that was _not_ Sebastian's fingers. Left only to his imagination, Ciel was pretty sure he didn't want to look over.

He had a pretty good guess what it was.

"Ciel, this will hurt at first. Please, if you can, refrain from screaming at the top of your lungs."

"Screaming-how painful are you planning on making-_this?_" Ciel started to ask again when Sebastian had begun to push his way into Ciel.

Ciel dug his nails in thoroughly over Sebastian's back with force. Sebastian quickly moved himself inside while ignoring as Ciel howled out in discomfort. Ciel tried to hold back his voice, but with Sebastian seriously _that_ far inside him, how could he _not_ scream with all his lungs had? Sebastian was rough feeling, perhaps a bit too big to be inside Ciel in the first place…

"Ciel, I would like you to relax. Once you relax, the discomfort will lessen."

"I will _kill_ you if you're lying."

Sebastian sighed and smiled. Ciel was far from being in any position to kill Sebastian as they both knew. Ciel rolled his eyes and tried to relax. He laid back into the sheets but pulled Sebastian down with him. It took a few seconds to really relax until his entrance had loosened upon Sebastian.

Sebastian leaned forward and planted a few kisses on Ciel's cheek before starting to move himself. Ciel held on tight to Sebastian, prepared for Sebastian to move around in another uncomfortable way. Instead, he slowly pulled himself all the way out. Next he pushed himself back inside Ciel with a bit more force to move faster. Ciel flinched and writhed against the sheets. It was still painful, but…

A _good_ painful. It stung, but it was surprisingly not that bad after a few times of Sebastian moving both ways. Ciel loosened his grip slowly on Sebastian and instead held to the sheets. Ciel sighed and flopped his head back into his pillow, seeing as Sebastian was really dramatically different-

This of course was a large misjudgment. Sebastian not too soon after noticing Ciel get more comfortable began increasing force with his thrusts, causing Ciel to suddenly jerk around. Sure the pain was wearing off, and _maybe_ it was actually turning out to feel strangely good, but Sebastian was overdoing it!

Ciel gripped onto the sheets for dear life. It was too much for his body all at once! His body continued to jerk in small spasms and shudders, none of which he could even stop. He groaned loudly toward Sebastian in hopes of hinting him to stop, but no.

When he opened his mouth to form words, the only thing he could formulate was Sebastian's name. Worse than _that_, after a short amount of time after even trying to say Sebastian's name all his phonemes became slurred. Shortly after _that_, all slurs seemed to distort into moans.

Sebastian continued to thrust away after a few of momentary pauses to match up his thrusts with Ciel's squirming. Ciel had little choice but to give up trying to stop Sebastian, seeing as it was a waste of time anyhow. He still jerked around under Sebastian who without warning put one last thrust-

And Ciel swore if nothing else that it was _not_ supposed to go into him _that_ deep! His body still jerked around until then with shudders. However as Sebastian had definitely gone in the farthest yet, _something_ felt off.

Ciel's stomach began feeling a little funny. His heart was already racing, but that _one_ spot sent him nearly breathless with his body sending too many messages at once. His body jerked more violently and his lower half felt a little strange. His whole body felt weird when doing this with Sebastian, but that one spot triggered a peculiar feeling, similar to a buzz.

What did Sebastian do?

"Se…sebas…Sebasti...tian...I can...can't keep…this feels…fun...funny…"

"Ciel, are you ok?" Sebastian paused to ask in a nearly panic-struck voice.

"I don't know…what it's…my…feels…strange. I don't…I don't_…"_

"I see. Well, does it feel strange right…here?" Sebastian asked cautiously while taking care to handle Ciel anywhere in his lower region.

Ciel jerked about, the strange feeling re-surfacing. It felt…funny. His body was a little sore, of course, but it wasn't a sore feeling. It was more…

Of a throbbing, or ache. Ciel didn't experience aches commonly, _especially_ down in _that_ region. He couldn't have been hurt by Sebastian; they had been careful, right?

"There's nothing to worry about."

"What…do you…but it…it _really_ aches. I don't know what…"

"Relax. You'll feel better soon."

Ciel groaned in discomfort. Sebastian _really_ needed to fix that, _now_.

Sebastian pulled himself back before returning to an almost on time thrusts with Ciel's spasms. The only difference, was now Sebastian was clearly _trying _to hit the same spot. Ciel almost howled in achiness and discomfort at Sebastian, but rather, only moans found their way out of his mouth.

How was he supposed to scold Sebastian at any rate of he couldn't even speak properly?

And smugly as ever, Sebastian smiled as he began to thrust fast with more force. Ciel could barely form words, so of course even a glare was out of the question. Sebastian had probably noticed that too, and just in spite of it he leaned over and smashed his lips into Ciel's. Ciel kissed back, but only barely with the lack of breath to begin with.

It wasn't like Ciel resisted the kiss, but of all the times to kiss it seemed a little unnecessary overall.

Well, until Sebastian dared to push his tongue rougher around Ciel's mouth. Ciel groaned in between the ever-present violent jerks up to the point where Sebastian just _had_ to overload Ciel with the final level of touching-

Sebastian reached down with one hand and swirled the tip of one finger of the head of Ciel down _there_. Ciel broke off the kiss immediately and gasped. A tremor-like shudder overtook Ciel for a split second, and the loudest moan yet had finally been ripped from the back of Ciel's throat. He threw his head back in a shock-like final spasm. He didn't dare look down at his own lower region yet, but the aching was finally gone.

Sebastian laughed, nearly collapsing atop Ciel. Ciel groaned and mumbled a spiteful something about Sebastian being a huge oaf before collapsing back once the spasms and violent jerks had ended. Sebastian took a pausing break before pulling himself out all the way for good. He removed the once funny looking sheath-

Which had traces of blood on it, but Ciel had become too exhausted to fuss over Sebastian causing his blood loss. Next he bunched up a handful of the sheets and wiped Ciel around his lower region. Ciel considered complaining, but there wasn't any energy left for that either…

"Ciel, it would be best if I just put you in a warm bath now. Is that ok?"

Ciel rolled his head to the side, barely able to look at Sebastian.

"That would be great. I'd really like to get this _blood_ off me that _someone_ caused."

"I apologize, but that was the urgency behind using a condom."

"Oh, so _that's_….oh. Ok." Ciel said casually, remembering the name to refer to the funny sheath later.

Sebastian smiled and picked Ciel up as if he were a limp being, carefully loading him into the tub once filled with warm water. He undressed Ciel carefully as he could to be easy on Ciel's sore body. In the tub, Ciel tried to ignore the small swirls of red floating around casually behind him. The bleeding would apparently stop after a warm bath, but that blood certainly didn't look as if it were stopping any time soon.

"That was too rough, wasn't it?" Sebastian whispered softly to Ciel as he scrubbed down Ciel with few comments.

"If you were trying to break me, you came pretty close." Ciel retorted with a challenging look on his face.

Sebastian laughed and ruffled Ciel's wet hair. Ciel wasn't really mad at him and he knew it.

"My apologies. I promise next time I'll be much more careful."

"After I stop bleeding, _then_ we'll see if there's a next time." Ciel teased, weakly attempting to splash the water at Sebastian.

After the bleeding had subsided Ciel finished his bath. Sebastian fully dressed him in his night clothes, picked him up before carrying him practically over his shoulder on the way to Sebastian's room. Sebastian set him down carefully in his bed and under the sheets, remembering which side of the bed Ciel had slept on previously. Momentarily Sebastian left him alone on the bed but only to return with a slice of cake on a plate for him.

Perhaps it was meant to be Sebastian's compensation for being too rough? Ciel sighed and ate the cake in his usual manner of enjoying it. When finished Sebastian cleaned up after him, dressed himself for bed, and finally put himself in bed for the night beside Ciel.

The next morning Ciel woke up and almost became shocked to find himself in Sebastian's bed until he remembered too clearly the reason he had been sleeping in Sebastian's bed to begin with. Sebastian woke Ciel up for school almost normally-

Only _this_ time he snuck in a small kiss for Ciel after breakfast. Ciel sheepishly pushed him away after calling him an idiot. On the way to school Ciel nearly swore Sebastian looked as if he was planning to spring another kiss on Ciel. For both their sakes, Ciel made a quick escape out of the car from Sebastian-

If anyone caught him kissing Sebastian on school grounds, he would not be pleased. Of course, he'd take his anger out on Sebastian, but that was to be expected…

Inside the school Ciel had definitely noticed a bit more than a handful of students staring at him as he walked to class. He wasn't limping or waddling, and thank goodness for that being one of the aftereffects of last night he had missed out on. Ciel looked down on himself a few times, just to make sure he hadn't missed something or was wearing something wrong.

_He_ didn't notice anything out of the ordinary about himself, so onward he walked to his first class. In the classroom Alois had already beaten him to arriving earlier. Alois waved over at Ciel and bounced over happily. However, just as the other students had stared at Ciel, there was Alois wide-eyed doing the same.

"Whoa, Ciel…you are _glowing_. I guess it's safe to say you and he worked it out, but…what exactly happened?" Alois asked with a hint of astonishment.

"Well, you know…we fought, and then made up…and stuff, so…"

Alois gasped and placed both hands on either side of his hips. He must have been thinking something rather obscenely, but…

Wasn't doing _that_ sort of thing with Sebastian just a _bit_ obscene, anyhow?

"What would this 'stuff' mean?"

Ciel snorted and kept walking over to his desk. Alois trailed behind him eagerly.

"Well, you know how it is when two people who love each other make-up. Things just…_happen_."

Alois gasped and lunged forward to cling aboard Ciel.

"Hold it right there, Ciel. I demand details!" Alois whined as he fervently clung alongside Ciel.

Ciel sighed.

To think, that best friends would honestly share such stories.

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/I wanted to post it earlier, but I was scared the lemon scene was poorly done…

Nonetheless, it's here after I made you wait rather long.

(I wanted it to be a split chapter, but after seeing this is over 7k words it seems like a tad much.)

I also wish to post later, a bonus chapter for the readers. I feel that after getting to 100 reviews, it's the least I can do to thank you for your support. I was thinking of a fluffy chapter, but if anyone would like to suggest a different perspective for the bonus (as supposed to Sebastian or Ciel), do let me know. /


	13. Other Plans

Disclaimer; I do not own any part of Kuroshitsuji. Be warned, there is strong yaoi later on.

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Just as any other school day, Sebastian got Ciel ready for school. Maybe Sebastian tried in small ways here and there to be sweet with Ciel before school with a kiss or two. Ciel had been so surprised with the first kiss in the morning that he had sheepishly jumped out of the car when at school, as if a premonition about a possible second morning kiss-

Not that Sebastian would have kissed Ciel on school grounds. Even that was a bit of a no-brainer for Sebastian seeing as kissing an adolescent boy- a student at the school, on school grounds was clearly prohibited.

Shortly after dropping Ciel at school Sebastian drove himself to work. As he sat down behind his desk, he pulled out his laptop and got to work. Sebastian didn't have attention issues, but as he worked he dwelled once or twice on the thought of Ciel. Sure Ciel had sprung out of the car a bit hastily, but Sebastian took little insult from it. It was _quite_ Sebastian's fault for rushing Ciel the previous night into doing rather, well…

As to say, more advanced things for couples.

_I still feel terrible for rushing Ciel._

Sebastian sighed and rubbed his temples.

He deserved to be ashamed of himself. What type of responsible adult as well as guardian couldn't show a bit of self-control? Ciel had given him the sign to go, but Ciel didn't even realize what he had gotten himself into in the first place, so _obviously_ Sebastian should have known better.

Guilt rolled over Sebastian a few more times as he tried to clear his head, shaking it with somewhat disproval. Today was Friday, the end of the week. That was good for something like spending time with Ciel. If Sebastian had an entire two days to spend with Ciel, perhaps he could make it up to Ciel? He hadn't really a good idea yet as to how he could recompense Ciel.

A few minutes later, Sebastian whipped his head around from his work to look up at his door. It was closed, but on the other side came a barrage of knocks. At first he had considered ignoring it by the chance it was Earl Grey. Then, after taking the time to hear through all _eight_ knocks on his door, Sebastian patiently sighed.

It was Drocell. He could recognize that OCD knocking anywhere.

"Drocell, you may come in."

And as expected, in cautiously crept Drocell. He looked anxious and nervous as ever, which meant Earl Grey had probably gone and harassed him already today. Drocell wasn't one to say anything openly to his superiors such as Claude or Sebastian about Earl Grey, but Sebastian was well aware in the end after a few serious whispers from Drocell about the conflicts.

Chances were, now Drocell was left responsible to clean up whatever Earl Grey had caused for him.

"Sebastian, I…require some paperwork."

"Let me guess, Earl Grey is bullying this early in the morning?"

"Well, I-I didn't…I mean, he sort of…when I tried serving coffee to mister Faustus…and he…he um, you know…" Drocell stuttered nervously as he began to organize all the different supplies and papers.

"He made you spill it and you got it over Claude's work, right?" Sebastian asked expectantly, familiar with such a story as he dug through his file cabinets to find the copies for Drocell.

"Well, _yes_. I went to apologize, and then…then I…"

"Drocell, you can relax. I'll give these papers to Claude and then explain. If it makes you feel better, I can hurt Grey for you."

Drocell perked up, pulling himself eagerly away from Sebastian's now organized desk. He gasped and nearly tried to hug Sebastian, but instead straightened Sebastian's attire when up close.

"Sebastian, you surely are a lifesaver!"

"I know, I know."

"So…so you'll let me repay you, right?"

Sebastian backed up with the papers in hand, moving himself at a comfortable distance from Drocell.

"I appreciate it, but I'll have to decline. There's nothing I need you to do for me…and I really don't want any material objects, seeing as I'm already content with everything I have…" Sebastian said flatly, ignoring the smile sneaking upon his lips.

_I already have everything I need to be happy._

"Sebastian has a girlfriend?"

Drocell gasped once more, putting a hand on either side of his face with clear shock.

"Oh, I must see! She must be absolutely stunning, right? Or is she cute and young? Or wait, wait- does Sebastian like the feisty type?"

"Actually, I don't have a picture of him yet."

Drocell paused his blabbering. He hadn't foreseen Sebastian to be with another male, but clearly Drocell didn't want to be rude. Drocell didn't seem to have any issues with same-sex couples, seeing as in a quite quirky manner Drocell put aside his OCD need for symmetry by drawing out in the air two male sex signs. Drocell nodded slowly, ok with the idea only if it left perfect symmetry in the end.

"Ah…two men? That's…that's quite nice."

"Thank you?"

Drocell left the room with a final nod and behind trailed Sebastian with his copies of Claude's paperwork. Sebastian took his time to stride down and about the floor to Claude's office. Inside the office Claude sat behind his desk quietly.

As normally, Claude wouldn't even look up at Sebastian upon his entrance into the room.

"Your copies."

"As expected." Claude said flatly, his tone remaining as uncaring as usual.

Sebastian handed over the copies to Claude and waited in place. Sometimes if he hung around long enough Claude would actually start a conversation with him. Luckily, only a few minutes were enough to work Claude.

"How is your kid doing?"

Sebastian smiled, having achieved a win. He hadn't told Claude much about Ciel, but the rumors about Ciel from the single day he had visited were enough to give Claude a general idea about him.

"You mean Ciel-he's doing fine. He's in school, and if I remember correctly…he said he had made a friend. And how is this _disaster_ of a child, Alois?" Sebastian replied quickly, recalling Claude mentioning previously about _his_ child being a complete menace by killing canaries or something.

"He's...hyper. And of course, vulgar and rash as ever."

"Well, at least…you won't be living alone anymore, correct? And also, aren't children easy to…to discipline, right?" Sebastian said warily, not too sure of himself.

"You're forgetting Alois is an abnormal child."

"…Right."

The silence grew between the two of them as Claude paused for a long period of time before talking back to Sebastian.

"So, this child Ciel…is his last name Phantomhive by any chance?"

"Yes, and what of it?" Sebastian replied after a moment of bristling, uncomfortable for Claude to happen of all names to guess _that_ one.

"Alois has been ranting at home about his friend Ciel Phantomhive, and I was just curious if perhaps they had gotten into the same school."

Of all the possible coincidences to have involving the likes of Claude, did Sebastian _honestly_ have to be connected through Ciel?

"That's very…odd, indeed."

Claude nodded quietly. He probably didn't want to be any closer with Sebastian than Sebastian wanted to be with him.

_What an odd coincidence._

Sebastian nodded quietly and started to leave the room before turning back one last time.

"Earl Grey was sexually harassing Drocell again today."

"I'm aware."

Sebastian left the room and walked back to his office. He had no difficulty getting back on track with his work once back at his now organized desk. He worked meticulously for the rest of his workday and then afterwards-

Well, it was time again to collect Ciel.

He drove after work to the school to pick up Ciel. As usual Sebastian was already outside and waiting by his car for Ciel, who upon seeing Sebastian waiting outside bounced down the school stairs. As happy as Sebastian was to see Ciel he was pretty sure that bouncing down the stairs quickly was a bad idea.

Ciel placed his messenger bag within the car and sheepishly approached Sebastian. Sebastian carefully pulled him in and squeezed a small hug upon Ciel, who muttered something quietly under his breath. If listened to carefully, Sebastian made out somewhere in the middle when Ciel called him an idiot.

"I missed you too." Sebastian cooed quietly against Ciel.

After driving Ciel and himself home Sebastian routinely went to make Ciel a snack. Not paying attention to himself, Sebastian had been entirely unaware of the smile happily residing along his lips until Ciel drew attention to it.

"Why are you so happy?"

"Oh, have you forgotten what today is?" Sebastian asked.

"Friday…what about it?" Ciel asked idly while eating away at his snack.

Sebastian laughed a little. Ciel wasn't expecting it to be more than a normal weekend.

"That means for the next two days I can spend all my time with you." Sebastian said smoothly as he gently hugged Ciel from behind his chair.

"Two whole days is…nice, but…but we won't do _that_ sort of thing again?"

"No, not at all. In fact, I still feel quite terrible for rushing you to do that so I thought…we can do whatever you'd like this weekend. Whether you'd like to go out for ice-cream or to the park…perhaps a movie…anything you'd like."

"_Anything_ at all, right…? I mean, what would you like to do?"

"I would be content spending time with you, regardless."

Ciel paused from eating, thinking carefully for a short while before returning to his peaceful eating. He had actually been considering it?

"Hmm."

"You can get back to me later." Sebastian assured him as he moved instead over to the couch.

Once on the couch Sebastian searched out the remote to the television. He switched on the television and changed the channel to weather, just to be careful of course if the weather was not going to be suited for spending the weekend outside for activities with Ciel. The weather channel's person pointed along at boxes on the screen which contained icons of suns and temperatures.

"_For this weekend, we will be having lovely weather. The temperatures are in the 60's and it will be sunny…" _The weather channel's person narrated.

Casually out of the blue Ciel sat himself beside Sebastian on the couch. Ciel looked over at Sebastian and then at the television. Sebastian looked at the television and then back at Ciel.

"It's settled." Ciel said flatly.

"Oh?"

"Well, if tomorrow is nice out like they say, then we should go to the park and get out to enjoy the weather, right? And…then maybe afterwards…we can go out for something to eat together like ice-cream."

"That sounds lovely."

Sebastian smiled and pulled Ciel into him swiftly, placing a kiss atop Ciel's head. Ciel blushed but didn't try to move away. Sebastian sighed and almost pulled Ciel into his lap when he remembered _very_ well that he needed to be more careful. It wouldn't be good if Sebastian once again rushed Ciel into that sort of thing.

Instead, Sebastian patted Ciel's head and removed himself from Ciel. Ciel gave him a concerned, nearly confused look as Sebastian was moving away from the couch without him.

"If you'll excuse me, I have calls to make."

As Sebastian left the couch and walked around to the kitchen where the phone was, Sebastian noticed that Ciel had turned around and partially hung his head over the couch as if he were continuing to wait for Sebastian.

_I should know how to show self-control._

"I'll be over here if you need me." Sebastian reminded Ciel.

Ciel patiently sat on the couch that way, waiting longer than Sebastian had expected as he started to call. Ciel after a few minutes slumped in his seat, but wouldn't budge from his position on the couch. Sebastian took his time to make calls and eventually after running out of call to make, he turned and hung up. Ciel watched him carefully still, ready for Sebastian to make a move.

"Done." Sebastian said as he approached the couch.

Ciel perked up in his seat, lifting his head up on the couch. Sebastian leaned forward and patted Ciel's head, as if rewarding his patience. Ciel looked aside sheepishly as Sebastian came closer and firmly with one hand caught Ciel's chin. Sebastian gently placed a kiss upon Ciel once more, realizing it was of course a terrible idea if he took it any further.

"I appreciate you waiting for me."

"I-idiot. Of course I…would. I mean…you…you-"

Sebastian and Ciel both looked around at the door quickly, where a clicking noise was coming from the front door. Ciel looked a tad horrified at the unexpected click, while Sebastian seemed rather prepared.

"Sebas-chan!" Grell shrieked happily as he bounced through the front door.

"Grell." Sebastian said flatly, a glare surfacing.

Sebastian wasn't surprised in the least.

Grell had been happily bouncing toward Sebastian, waving a plastic bag in hand until he glanced aside at the couch and noticed Ciel. Ciel blankly stared back at Grell, who was just as surprised to see him as he was to discover Ciel in Sebastian's apartment without any warning.

"…And…Ciel? Did I miss something?"

"What business do you have now?"

Grell let out a small noise of disappointment as he sauntered over to Sebastian. If Grell seriously thought he was going to get off easy because Ciel was in the room, he was sorely mistaken.

"Well, I came to return the key, and…and I brought things for you because I thought we'd talk this over dinner, but…I see you're…um…"

"There's nothing to talk about Grell. It's only handing over a key." Sebastian replied blandly, seeing as Grell was making too much over giving back his extra key to the apartment.

Grell bent over dramatically in defeat and handed over the key as well as the plastic bag he had brought. In a mere second of possible redemption, Grell looked up weakly at Sebastian as he tried a look of adorability.

"Well…I can still stay over for dinner, right?"

Sebastian paused on the thought of having to deal with Grell. Quickly he turned to Ciel, who didn't look pleased in the least.

"What do you think, Ciel?"

"No." Ciel snapped without a second of hesitation.

"So cruel…" Grell said in a deflated tone.

"Maybe another time, Grell." Sebastian told Grell, helping usher him out the door.

Once Grell had been escorted out the door, Sebastian turned back and stood back over by Ciel. Ciel remained on the couch, sitting patiently in his previous position to face Sebastian over the couch. Sebastian sighed and reached over to pat Ciel's head, immediately remembering to be easier on Ciel.

"Speaking of dinner, I should start cooking now." Sebastian excused himself, walking back over to the kitchen to start dinner.

Ciel of course, again didn't seem pleased with the hasty ditch from Sebastian. During dinner both kept quiet as they ate. After dinner Sebastian went right away to preparing a bath for Ciel. When the bath was set and ready for Ciel he stood up from the tub and started the room as he called Ciel in.

"Ciel, your bath is ready."

"Coming." Ciel said back, slinking in the bathroom a tad odd.

Sebastian paused and looked back at Ciel, who blankly continued to stare down at the tub.

"What's wrong?" Sebastian asked, curious if he had missed something.

Ciel slowly faced Sebastian and shrugged.

"We've already done _that_ sort of thing…so we can bathe together…right?"

"Well…"Sebastian gingerly scratched the back of his neck, unsure what to do, "…I suppose so."

Immediately Sebastian knew it was a terrible idea. Ciel shyly had undressed himself and sat in the tub while Sebastian sat undressed in the other end of the tub. It was awkward, sure, to be naked in the same place as Ciel…

But if there was no body contact, then Sebastian wouldn't have to worry about temptation of any sort, right? Just keeping himself pressed back against the tub, Sebastian started to get comfy-

And Ciel, well, he casually moved himself to Sebastian. He sheepishly attempted to move himself against Sebastian as if snuggling naked in the tub was normal. Ciel stayed sitting in the tub like that, backed up against Sebastian for a short while before thinking it would be just as good an idea to turn around and try and kiss Sebastian. Sebastian admired the boldness of Ciel, but overall it just wouldn't work.

Sebastian easily hindered Ciel with his hands, removing himself from Ciel and leaving the tub. He dried off and dressed himself before setting out towels for Ciel, as if it were the least he could do. He turned back guiltily to Ciel who had laid his head on the outer rim of the tub, and sighed.

"It's not good to stay in the water too long." Sebastian excused himself as he left Ciel to bathe on his own.

After having ditched Ciel, Sebastian moved along to making a snack. It didn't take much waiting for Ciel to finish his bath. When out of the bathroom Ciel quietly moved to eating his snack. After snack, Ciel actually went to his own room rather than Sebastian's.

Feeling a quite terrible for withholding Ciel without warning, Sebastian stopped Ciel.

"Ciel, would you like to sleep in my bed?"

"Would it be ok with you if I did…?" Ciel asked quietly, aware that Sebastian might change his mind.

Sebastian sighed and offered out a hand to Ciel.

"I would _love_ to have you join me; I just had been planning on keeping my hands to myself, so…perhaps I came off a tad distant, but…"

"Sebastian, you…you…"

Sebastian pulled Ciel into his chest. Trying to withhold Ciel was a terrible plan after all.

"You worry too much." Ciel whispered.

"Perhaps."

The next morning, Sebastian woke up early and got himself ready. Around ten he tried to wake up Ciel, seeing as it could take a while to get the morning going.

"Time to get up." Sebastian reminded Ciel.

"I'm going…I'm…going…"

After getting Ciel up for breakfast, Ciel had to get dressed to go out. Sebastian had already gotten himself ready to go out, but Ciel somehow couldn't find his coat as much as he looked around. Ciel looked around from place to place while Sebastian tried helping, only to be of little help since he hadn't really a clue as to where Ciel might have left it.

"Sebastian, I can't find my coat. I thought I put it right _there_, but…it's not…"

Sebastian opened his mouth to say something when rapid knocks barraged the front door.

"Just keep looking, ok? I'm sure we'll find it. Now, if you'll excuse me, the door…"

Sebastian sighed and moved to answer the door. He _really_ was not in the mood or this, seeing as his morning schedule was already slowly falling apart. When he opened the door, there stood a hyper Finnian.

"Sebastian! I need help rearranging furniture because Baldroy isn't around, so…so…can you help me?"

"Sure…thing. Finny." Sebastian said in a low and deflated tone, figuring that it would be better to get it over with."

With haste, Sebastian followed Finnian down to his lower level apartment. Furniture lay around the rooms in strange places, so Finnian helped order about Sebastian as Sebastian moved furniture to more appropriate places. Finnian also moved some furniture, but for a lengthy hour or so Sebastian did most of the work. After finishing the help for Finnian, Sebastian only needed a quick glance at the clock to remember why he had been rushing around.

"Bye and thanks for the help!" Finnian yelled after Sebastian, who had bolted back off to his apartment.

Sebastian hurried back to the apartment. How on _earth_ moving furniture took so long was beyond him, but-

The most worrisome part about leaving the apartment was leaving Ciel absolutely alone. Ciel had just spent at least an hour alone in the apartment, probably still looking for his coat or trying to get ready all by himself. How unacceptable.

Once in the apartment, Sebastian peered around for Ciel who was nowhere in sight. Sebastian checked in both rooms and then finally the couch, where Ciel laid curled up in a quiet ball. Sebastian quietly leaned over the couch and patted Ciel cautiously.

"Ciel…?"

"I don't care about the coat." Ciel whispered lowly.

Taken aback so suddenly, Sebastian maneuvered around the couch and sat next to Ciel. He pulled Ciel into his chest, hugging him gently.

"We can't go to the park if you don't have a coat."

"Whatever."

Sebastian sighed and placed a kiss atop Ciel's head.

"Fine then. We'll stay in for today and it'll be just us," Sebastian said softly, slowly releasing his hug. "You have my-"

Of all times, of _course_ there would be more knocking on the door.

"-my full-"

The knocking didn't stop.

"-my full attention."

"Really now."

The knocking continued. Having already ruined the sincere moment with Ciel, Sebastian stood up and came to the door. He was not in the mood for another idiot interrupting him…

"I'll tell them we're busy."

Sebastian opened the door. Why Grell had business still with Sebastian was a mystery.

"Sebas-chan! I need to talk to you! It's about Will. I-"

"I'm _busy_." Sebastian growled, closing the door slowly in Grell's face.

After closing the door Sebastian leaned back against it with a heavy sigh. He glanced over at Ciel who looked far from relieved as well, having positioned himself to peer over the couch again.

The silence between them was nice, had it lasted longer than thirty seconds.

"Sebas-chan, open up! You know, it's rude to close a door in someone's face, especially a _lady's_!" Grell howled from outside the front door in a mix or more knocking.

Sebastian sighed and looked over at Ciel, who had turned around and turned on the television.

"Ciel…?"

"There's always tomorrow." Ciel said blandly from the other side of the couch.

Sebastian wistfully turned to the door.

_So much for spending time together._

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/...We lost power. I wanted to upload, but even then…I didn't have internet to do so.

But at least it got uploaded at some point, right? I have the bonus chapter ready, so please enjoy the delayed chapters…

And let's hope the snow stops so there will be power to get things done. /


	14. Bonus, Quality Time

Disclaimer; I do not own any part of Kuroshitsuji. Be warned, there is strong yaoi later on.

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Sitting at the couch idly, Ciel lounged around and waited.

And waited.

And of course, still waited since Sebastian had fallen victim to Grell cornering him for advice. Grell didn't _need_ advice from Sebastian. Maybe what he needed was help, but not the type Sebastian could give him.

Ciel didn't dare to peer back over the couch since Sebastian and Grell would still be talking. It couldn't be helped that the day was already downhill, but there was no way that Sebastian and Ciel were going to be going out for the evening.

_It's not entirely Sebastian's fault, but…_

Ciel sighed and leaned back into the couch.

_I feel a little let down._

It was a little depressing. All it took was a few tiny obstacles in the day's schedule to entirely throw off the evening. Grell for instance, was completely wasting away the precious time that Sebastian and Ciel had together during the weekend.

And yet, he really had no clue what a nuisance he was.

After Grell had eventually left, Sebastian readied for bed early. During dinner Sebastian and Ciel both stayed silent. Next for Ciel's bath he went into the tub along, but he refrained from bothering to pull Sebastian into the bath with him. For snack Ciel ate quietly to himself before joining Sebastian in bed for the night. Sebastian weakly tried snuggling with Ciel, even if he was clearly exhausted.

The next morning Ciel woke up early-

But by early, Sebastian hadn't even woken up yet. Ciel turned to him and looked him over, his face rather peaceful and unmoving. Next Ciel peeked over at the clock, where the clock displayed 11:00.

Ciel notice he had been exhausted, but to sleep in past ten?

Ciel reached over and gently as a joke picked up between his fingers the longer strands of Sebastian's hair which lay on the side, the silky onyx locks slipping through his fingers. He picked up the strands carefully and moved them around. His fun with Sebastian's hair lasted a bit longer until Sebastian let out a low and stifled noise. Ciel leaned in curiously and put his hands all over Sebastian's face.

"Ciel, what are you…doing…?" Sebastian whispered.

"Waking you up." Ciel replied while toying with Sebastian's face some more.

Sebastian groaned and stretched, sitting himself up. He had a slight stumble out of bed, and nearly bumped into the door on the way out from the bedroom. Perhaps Ciel should have let him sleep longer.

"I'll go make breakfast, give me a moment."

"Oh…ok."

Ciel got himself up and dressed while Sebastian more gracefully went to start breakfast. Sebastian wasn't unsteady as he worked on breakfast, so Ciel came up behind him and teasingly held onto Sebastian. Sebastian smiled and with a much more awake expression on his face he smiled back at Ciel.

"You seem quite awake today."

"Mhmm." Ciel murmured, sneaking in a slight cuddle.

Ciel hid a smile, feeling much more cheery than usual after an extra hour or so of sleep. Maybe if he went to bed early every night he would be feeling this jovial all the time? Of course, if that wasn't possible, he could always be cheered up again as long as he was around Sebastian…

Which reminded him.

"We're going to the park today, you remember?" Ciel reminded him.

_I plan to hold Sebastian to his word._

Sebastian turned back and nodded at Ciel.

"But of course."

After breakfast Ciel got himself ready to go out. Sebastian readied himself too, but along the way finally seemed to find Ciel's coat that had mysteriously gone missing.

"Found your coat."

"Okay."

Ciel waited by the door as Sebastian put on his trench coat and grabbed his wallet. Ciel turned back and watched Sebastian finally get himself together.

"Ready?"

"Of course." Sebastian smiled, closing the door on the way out of the apartment.

As promised, Sebastian drove Ciel out to a park. At the park Ciel curiously hopped around and pulled Sebastian around with him hand in hand. First they checked out the local ponds and pathways where people casually sat around on benches and fed the birds. Ciel watched closely, seeing a small trail of ducklings follow a mother duck swim around. He started to lean forward and jokingly call out to the ducklings, which was fun until he turned back to find a goose watching over _him_.

Ciel backed up and tried walking around it peacefully, but a loud hissing noise from the angry bird told him it wasn't happening. His second option was to shoo it, but the thought of it trying to snap at him wasn't very pleasant.

Instead Sebastian casually walked over as if it were nothing and started to walk Ciel away. When the goose continued to hiss and follow Sebastian slowly turned back to the goose and bowed.

"If you'll excuse us, we'll just be on our way." Sebastian said politely with a smirk, walking Ciel away.

Once finished with the park, Sebastian sat down on a bench and waited with Ciel. They were taking a break before the next stop.

"Would you like the ice cream now?"

"That sounds good." Ciel said with a silly smile on his face, the goose incident still to be thought about.

At the ice cream shop, Sebastian sat down and enjoyed ice cream with Ciel. Ciel swallowed down his strawberry ice cream with little difficulty, while Sebastian sat and ate his ice cream slowly. Once done with his ice cream, Ciel leaned a little back in his seat to take in the heavy aroma of sweets surrounding the shop.

Above all else, this really had to be a great day to go out with Sebastian.

"Was it good?"

"Mhmm." Ciel murmured in a pleasant tone.

"Would you like to go out like this some time again?" Sebastian asked as he leaned over the table to Ciel.

Ciel paused and nodded. It had been a good day already for going out and doing things with Sebastian, so why wouldn't he enjoy doing again? Maybe next time he could feed the ducklings, or bring something ahead of time for that malicious goose.

"Yeah." Ciel replied as he began toying with his empty cup from the ice cream.

"I'm glad to hear it." Sebastian said with a smile curving over his lips.

After finishing up with the ice cream, Sebastian threw away the trash and drove them home. There was still dinner to be had, which Ciel easily ate as well. Following dinner Ciel had time to sit around on the couch before his bath. Sebastian joined Ciel on the couch, which led to a small amount of cuddling until Ciel had to bathe.

For his bath, Ciel settled with little complaint for having Sebastian come along. Sebastian refused politely to get in the bath, but instead decided to sit outside the tub and help wash Ciel. Ciel didn't push him to help with getting dressed after the bath, since he could live with doing at least _that_ by himself. Once dressed for bed Ciel crawled into bed next to Sebastian, who leaned over and carefully tucked him in.

Ciel curled up under the covers and jauntily rolled himself comfortably around. Sebastian kept his hands to himself under the covers, but remained to Ciel's side.

"Ciel, are you…upset we only spent one whole day together?" Sebastian asked quietly.

_Things may not have gone as planned, but-_

"Not really. I mean, it wasn't that bad to spend the little time we had together…and the things we did together were kind of fun…and maybe I had some fun after all with you today…but…I-I…I mean, you know I…I…" Ciel quietly mumbled into the sheets before nervously pulling the sheets over his head and rolling over.

Sebastian remained quiet, but reached over and put his weight atop Ciel. Ciel couldn't see past the sheets, but Sebastian felt like he was hugging his weight over Ciel under the blankets.

"I love you too, Ciel." Sebastian whispered into the sheets.

"Shut up!" Ciel growled back through the sheets, squirming around below Sebastian's weight.

Sebastian laughed and leaned over. He shifted his weight around and moved his hug around the large pile of covers hiding Ciel, moving himself around the entire lump of sheets.

"Try not to suffocate, ok?" Sebastian purred through the sheets.

"Get off me, you…you oaf!" Ciel growled back, wiggling under Sebastian.

After a few more futile attempts to wiggle free of Sebastian, Ciel clearly had to admit defeat. He sighed and tried to at least get his head out to breath, which Sebastian had positioned himself in a way allowing for just that.

Ciel rolled his eyes and curled back into his cover and Sebastian.

_I'm still happy in the end._

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/For the bonus chapter, I wanted a fluff. I know Ciel was _very_ OOC, but a happy Ciel always is…

I hope the bonus chapter wasn't terrible. Maybe the next bonus chapter will be a Halloween special, who knows? /


	15. All For One

Disclaimer; I do not own any part of Kuroshitsuji. Be warned, there is strong yaoi later on.

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Like any other school day, Ciel woke up on Monday morning to prepare for school. Sebastian nudged him and around while calling his name to get him up and running. Ciel eventually got up and out of bed to get dressed and eat breakfast before school. After getting ready Sebastian locked the door and drove Ciel off to school.

At school Ciel waved bye to Sebastian and hopped up and away on the stairs into the school. He ignored Sebastian shamelessly ignored Sebastian in the background waving back, and went in a hurry. Inside the school Ciel walked himself to his first class where he had art. Already waiting for him ahead of time at the large table was Alois, who waved down Ciel as if he hadn't been expecting to see him.

Again, just as any other morning.

"Ciel~" Alois chimed happily as Ciel sat beside him.

"Alois." Ciel countered casually.

After a few more minutes, the bell rung as class started. Ciel and Alois worked on sketching along in class, sharing a few glances at each other. Alois opened his mouth a few times as if he had something he wanted to say, but tried to focus on his work.

Eventually he put down his work and tried again.

"I've been thinking…since we're best friends…we should do something special."

"Special? As in…?"

"Oh, you know…like a handshake. Or maybe there's something we could do together-like hangout after school, or…"

Ciel paused from his work to look over dubiously at Alois.

"You really like me that much?" Ciel asked with a deep sigh.

"Well _duh_, you're my best friend." Alois said with a joking tone, teasingly pushing Ciel.

After class finished Ciel walked down to the gym with Alois. The two different classes broke up again, one for indoor and one for outdoor activities, Alois being in Ciel's class of course. Ciel finally changed into his gym clothes back in the locker room, then got ready for gym. Outside on the track Alois joined the side of Ciel as he bent down to stretch, touching his toes. Alois smiled and gazed over at Ciel.

Ciel was already getting a bad feeling about this.

"I've got it."

"Have you now?"

"A club."

Ciel stared incredulously at Alois, expecting a silly grin to be on his face.

It was there, alright.

"Seriously?"

"Well, we can join or make our own club. I mean, we'd need to find a sponsor for a new club because they won't let you stay after school unsupervised…"

"And what exactly would we do, just hang around?"

Alois paused and looked down in defeat. That was a yes.

"Maybe."

Following gym was lunch. During lunch Alois and Ciel sat together against a wall in one of the hallways. Sebastian made Ciel a lunch, never forgetting to leave a sweet thing or two. Claude, who Alois apparently claimed to have made Alois's lunch on the other hand, left out sweets. According to Alois, Claude denied him sweets or anything that might possible make Alois any more hyper than usual.

A few times in between eating, Alois would start to hint around further at making the club. Ciel nodded and went along with it, too occupied in his sweets to really be concerned.

But it wasn't like Ciel didn't care for making a club. Sure he found spending time with Alois fine and all, though to not come home immediately after school with Sebastian…

Well, Ciel was in high school. And hanging out with friends was normal, right? Sebastian could probably live through sharing Ciel with Alois for just a bit.

"So if our club is hanging out here after school…I have to ask Sebastian first. You should ask Claude as well."

"Oh please, he'd be thrilled to leave me anywhere away from him."

Ciel rolled his eyes. Alois had told Ciel a few times about Claude, who perhaps didn't sound the friendliest but...

Maybe he had a soft side?

"You don't know that. Maybe he has feelings for you deep down…and he distances himself so he doesn't lose himself?"

"He's the same guy who lets me cry myself to sleep."

Ciel paused. Maybe Claude just had…a _really_ difficult time showing Alois he cared?

"Just saying." Ciel said nonchalantly, waving a spoon at Alois as he finished his lunch.

Once finished with their lunches Ciel and Alois stood up and walked around to throw away the trash. With time remaining during lunch, Alois and Ciel continued to walk around the school aimlessly.

"I thought Claude's problem might be some sexual tension, but…"

"What's that?"

Alois shot a surprised glance at Ciel, shaking his head woefully.

"If you don't know what it means, Ciel, I…I…I can't tell you."

"Why not?"

"You're so, you know…"

"What?"

"Innocent."

Ciel pouted and nearly flung a fist at Alois. Ciel being _innocent_?

Nonsense.

"I am not! I told you what I did that one time, didn't I?" Ciel growled at Alois.

"Oh Ciel…it takes more than that to be corrupt…"

Ciel snorted and rolled his eyes at Alois. He didn't have to argue about it with Alois...

But then Ciel paused in step. He turned and looked around, because something seemed a little off. Was it him, or had he heard voices? People didn't usually hang around the hallways during lunch, but…

"Do you hear that?" Ciel asked Alois, pointing to whichever direction seemed most likely to be the correct direction.

"Yeah."

"It's coming from over there…" Ciel whispered as he slowly made his way around and peeked past a corner.

Around the corner-

There was that older student, Edward that Alois had intervened with last time.

_This guy again?_

Alois mentioned to Ciel that he was constantly frustrated and took his anger from his complex out on others, which sounded just about right as there before Ciel he was harassing now a classmate of Ciel's - Pluto, the quietest boy in class next to Ciel, who had probably done nothing to provoke Edward. Pluto looked terrified, backed up sideways to a locker. Edward was scolding him, closing in dangerously as he had done to Ciel as well.

Somehow, Ciel had a feeling this was not the first time he had picked on him. And if _that_ was the case, then Ciel could really guess that Edward had been the cause of the nice bandaged part of Pluto's cheek.

"Here…" Ciel whispered.

"That's problematic."

Not sure of how to approach the situation, Ciel turned in a nervous and fumbling manner to Alois.

"I mean, we should do something…right? We can't just stand and watch our classmate get bullied…"

"Yes we can, because he's not _our_ problem."

"But Alois, that guy…he's…and that's…"

"It's not out fight."

Ciel sighed and peeked back to check on Pluto. And of course, Edward was still picking on him. Ciel wasn't really about to take a punch for Pluto, and he certainly wasn't able to talk Edward out of it, but…

It was worth a shot…?

Anxiously Ciel stepped forward and made himself visible to Edward.

Behind Ciel, sadly, Alois did not stand.

"Have you nothing better to do than harass people?" Ciel asked Edward, drawing the attention to him.

Edward glanced back over his shoulder at Ciel, clearly uninterested. That was probably related to Alois having previously threatening to hurt him after a clean punch to the face. Ciel courageously stepped forward again to make a point that he was not fleeing.

At least, not that moment.

"Mind your business."

"Who said I wasn't? Pluto here is my classmate."

"So you must be his buddy too, right?" Edward asked with a sharp tone while turning to close in on Ciel.

"I never said I was a friend."

"Then why are you still here?" He barked at Ciel, dangerously placing himself near Ciel again, "You really want to finish where _we_ left off?"

Ciel refrained from swallowing nervously while keeping his feet in place.

"Not exactly, but-"

And with perfect timing again, Alois had finally come to the rescue. He had come up behind Edward, which even Ciel hadn't seen coming, and knocked him down with a heavy textbook in hand. Edward wobbled a bit before falling down, seeing as the heavy textbook carried quite the force and weight to it. Alois held the book in one hand and stood over Edward.

He looked _furious_.

"What was I not clear about?" Alois growled, threateningly lifting the book above Edward.

Edward growled something low and inaudible under his breath before fleeing the scene. Alois then promptly returned the book to his backpack as if nothing had happened.

"If you're going to start a fight, at least do it properly."

"Okay, okay…"

Ciel sighed and started to walk away with Alois, as they still had time before lunch ended. Only a few steps away and Pluto abruptly stopped Ciel in a hurry. Alois stopped too, as he knew better than to leave _either_ of now the two of them alone.

"Ah…wait! I didn't get to thank you yet!"

"Thank me…?"

"I mean, Edward likes to pick on me, but…I…I mean, no one's ever stood up to him for me, so…I…I'm grateful."

"I mean, that sort of thing is only right to do, so…"

"But still! You still really saved me there, and I…I owe you one, even though we're not friends…but…" Pluto nervously fumbled over his words, anxiously fidgeting in place, "I would like to…maybe if you'd consider…later, of course…being my…um…friend?"

_Pluto's a bit awkward, but…_

Ciel shrugged.

Pluto wasn't that bad once you had a few things in common with him…

_He's not a bad person._

If Ciel could put up with a hyper Alois, he could withstand an awkward Pluto.

Why not?

"Sure."

Absolutely shocked, Pluto perked up excitedly.

"R-really? You mean it?"

Ciel nodded, only to be dragged into a suffocating hug-like grip with Pluto.

"I'm so happy! I can help you with homework…and we'll study together…and…and…"

Alois laughed, naturally as he wasn't in the middle of the hug. Ciel squirmed, and after much struggling gave up. As lunch had finished, Ciel and Alois walked to class now with Pluto, whom had math next with them coincidently anyhow. Sitting back into their seats, at least now it was noticeably less awkward between Ciel and Pluto.

In fact, Pluto happily turned to both Ciel and Alois a few times in class.

"I think it's safe to say that now as the three of us, we should consider making a club." Alois whispered, reviving the club topic for the hundredth time that day.

"I don't know if that's-"

"Oh, cool. I can help with starting the club, and getting us a sponsor for supervision." Pluto interjected happily, waiting to be of some use.

"That's not too much trouble for you…?"

"Of course not. I mean, it won't be difficult…the _real_ difficult part is recruiting people."

"Recruiting?" Ciel asked, withdrawing at the idea of more people.

"Well, unless you'd like it to be just the three of us…which, don't get me wrong, is fine. I just thought if you were considering making more friends."

"No thanks." Both Ciel and Alois said in unison.

Pluto nodded, aware of their lacking social skills.

"Oh…ok."

After class ended Pluto waved bye and went off his own way. Ciel and Alois walked together toward their last class, French. Ciel sat himself down at his desk while Alois swiftly took the desk next to him, being Lizzie's seat. He sighed and gazed over at Ciel.

"Here you are, Ciel…barely two weeks into school and you have two friends. You grow up so fast…" Alois said in a praising tone.

"Ahem."

Both Ciel and Alois looked up, where Lizzie stood in front of her desk. She wanted her seat back. Alois nodded and moved back to his seat happily. As she sat down Lizzie turned backwards to face Alois, who ignored her.

"Alois."

Alois snorted and shooed her away rather than starting their bickering.

"Please, I have better things to do than put you in _your_ place."

"_Excuse_ me?"

"You heard me." Alois said with the most amused look on his face.

Next, Alois reached out to Ciel.

Great, now Ciel was being dragged into this…again.

"We're starting a club that you're strictly not allowed in. Right, Ciel?"

Ciel paused, opening his mouth cautiously.

"Ciel…how can I be uninvited? I thought we were friends…?"

"Um, I-"

Lizzie gaped, and Alois-

He was absolutely delighted. Having most brilliantly gotten himself into a once again mess, Ciel sighed and proceeded to put his head on his desk. He had been better off staying quiet.

"That's a no."

"Shut up, Alois!"

"Ok, _lookie_ here bitch. Watch who you tell to shut up."

"I guess you're right, I forgot I was talking with an _infant_."

Ciel silently groaned.

_And just when things start to look up._

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/And…here you go.

If you felt bad for Pluto, I'm sorry about that. He turns into an even sweeter character, and later…I can't hint you on him too much. I mean, I can say that he lives in a _very_ quirky and lively household, but…If you can correctly guess which two characters he lives with, you must be psychic. (Plus, I would be incredibly amazed with you, because it's a crack pairing…)

And Ciel- well, now he has two friends at school. Edward will get what's coming to him, it's ok.

Alois- don't worry about him. Claude's always been cold-hearted, but you'll see. /


	16. Busy

Disclaimer; I do not own any part of Kuroshitsuji. Be warned, there is strong yaoi later on.

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Monday morning begun slowly. It was one thing to be groggy and unready to restart another week, but rather to start a week after a relaxing weekend-

Well, that was just cruel. Who wanted to get back from such a nice time to instead work or school?

Sebastian nudged Ciel around under the covers, calling him to wake up for school. Ciel woke up and got himself dressed while Sebastian readied breakfast for both. Once done eating breakfast Sebastian allowed the dishes to wade in the sink meanwhile he left the apartment with Ciel. First Sebastian dropped Ciel off at school, waving goodbye though he was sure Ciel seemed to be ignoring him. Next he drove himself to work, where promptly sat behind his desk to begin work.

Sebastian immediately got to work, a cloud of lingering happiness hung above him. One day out with Ciel really made the difference, didn't it? Sebastian forced back a smile as he focused himself to his work, which he really needed to get done regardless of the situation. Finally getting into his work with concentration, there was a knock at the door-

Or rather, eight consecutive knocks on the door.

And of course, Drocell just perfectly timed one more interruption. Not intentionally, but Sebastian was not anymore eager to answer.

"You may come in, Drocell."

Cautiously poking his head in first, Drocell inched into Sebastian's office. Once inside he straightened himself as if preparing to give an important speech, his posture now quickly upright. He meant business, had he not obviously started to stare at Sebastian.

"What's that look for?" Sebastian asked gingerly.

"Oh…I was just noticing…Sebastian's in such a good mood." Drocell joked, a wide smile on his face as he pointed out a similar smile on Sebastian.

"That…irrelevant. Really." Sebastian reminded him with a short shake of his head.

Drocell shrugged and almost walked himself out from the room. Sebastian coughed loudly before Drocell reached the door handle. If _that_ was all he had been interrupted for, Drocell was not getting off easy that time…

"Don't tell me that's all you came in here for."

Drocell paused, and twirled back to Sebastian with a guilty look.

"Oh, that's right. Soma called to say he was in town…"

"You're kidding."

"…Would you like to hear the message?"

"No, that's fine," Sebastian grunted, slinking down in his chair "I believe you."

Without needing to be directed any further, Drocell ushered himself out of Sebastian's reach. Sebastian wasn't bothered enough to throw anything around-not only because he was above that, but he wasn't in _that_ much of a dilemma. Soma, formally known as Soma Asman Kadar, he previously been a client of Sebastian's. The barely legal-aged boy came at first to try his best and start his own work that would not involve his family by any means, as having lived with at least thirty other people in his old home was not something he liked relying on. Alongside the young man stood the gentle giant, his bodyguard and companion Agni. Between the two of them-

As sincere as their mishaps and accident in the office were, there was no dismissing the fact Sebastian was left each time with more than a pounding migraine. Should Soma decide to visit in the office once again, there was no telling what chaos he could possibly blend up _this_ time.

Sebastian let out a heavy sigh and glared at his load of work. He was going to have quite the difficulty doing his work with the eccentric Indian prince bouncing about…

After a surprisingly exhausting day at work, Sebastian was early driving to the school to pick up Ciel. With a few extra minutes to spend alone, he waited patiently. Good things came to those that waited, right? Smiling and putting himself back into a nice mood, he spotted Ciel hopping down to him. Ciel wasted no time slinging the messenger bag into the car, which gave Sebastian a quick moment to pull Ciel into him. Ciel sighed, mumbling something weakly.

"I'm exhausted."

"We'll head home, shall we?" Sebastian chuckled, starting the car back up.

Once driven home, Ciel assumed his place at the table while Sebastian prepared him an afternoon snack. Sebastian whipped up a few caramelized pears for Ciel, serving them before Ciel's stomach had time to order him around. Usually Ciel ate without commenting in between bites, but Ciel looked up a few times at Sebastian. Perhaps something was up?

"Sebastian, I wanted to ask you about something."

"Please, ask away." Sebastian purred, happy to be questioned by a possibly curious Ciel.

Ciel sat up, fixing his posture in the seat before continuing.

"Well…my friend Alois at school today had suggested that the two of us hang out…and then I made friends with Pluto…so they were saying we should start a club…I mean, we would have an adult with us, but…I…I was just…"

"Ciel, if you really want to spend time with Alois or your friends… I'm not going to stop you."

_I don't like to share Ciel._

"Really?"

"Of course. I know you're going to have friends, and as long as it doesn't jeopardize _your_ safety, well… I'm ok with it."

"Oh…ok..."

A wave of relief flooded over Ciel's face, his posture calmly reverting to normal.

"Do you not want to hang out in a club…?"

"No, that's not…I mean, I want this. We…we were trying to find a staff member to be our chaperone, but…we are going to be stuck with Maylene…"

"…Maylene?" Sebastian asked cautiously, not seeing where the issue was being derived from. "Well then. What might the issue be? She's very kind and I'm sure she'd love to chaperone."

"I…I know. I just…haven't made any contact with her since I left with you, and…"

"Ciel. Maylene will understand, so what is there to worry about?" Sebastian reminded him.

Ciel sighed and put his head on the table in defeat, clearly losing _that_ argument.

"…I guess so."

Sebastian smiled and easily snuck in a hug from behind Ciel as he remained seated. Ciel turned back and weakly tried to snuggle back into Sebastian.

"There's no need to worry about such small things." Sebastian whispered, planting a small kiss on Ciel.

_But…I'd also hate to see him unhappy._

The next morning, Ciel started the morning for school calm as usual. Sebastian hurried them both out the door after breakfast as to follow the morning routine. Ciel went to school, hopping off his way while Sebastian drove himself to work. At work Sebastian went to his office immediately in hopes that _if_ Soma and Agni were present, they wouldn't spot him.

Luckily, he made it to his office all in one piece.

Unluckily, it took barely two or three minutes into working for knocking to be at his door. The knocking was rapid and sloppy, which was likely to be Soma. OCD Drocell knocked exactly eight times, Claude once, Soma and Agni multiple times, and then not at all for the rest of his co-workers such as Earl Grey who liked to randomly slam open the doors. Sebastian sighed and eyed his door.

Soma wasn't a quitter for if he didn't get attention the first try.

"Come in" Sebastian said through his teeth, knowing it was a bad idea.

Slinking first through the door, the now slightly more grown-up Soma bounced around excitedly upon discovering Sebastian at his desk. Following behind came Agni, who calmly closed the door.

"Sebastian!"

"Soma, it's good to…see you. And Agni, I hope you've been well."

"Oh, c'mon…don't act like you're not pleased to see me…right? I mean, I came by just to see you and drop off something for you…"

"Some that wasn't really necessary for you to-"

From his bag, Soma yanked out a stuffed animal. Sebastian didn't collect stuffed animals, even if they _were_ cats…

"A stuffed animal?"

"No, no! Look at it again, it's a tiger!"

"…Soma."

"Don't act like you don't love it." Soma teased, shortly before Sebastian picked it up studiously.

Then, Sebastian opened a desk drawer and proceeded to store the stuffed animal away. Soma gave off a displeased look, quite unhappy with the silly toy's treatment.

"I appreciate the thought, but I have work to do, so…if you would please excuse me?"

"Aw…again?" Soma whined.

Stepping up to escort Soma to do something else, Agni came up and gently guided Soma with his petite hand in his comparably sturdy hand. Agni bowed politely and started to lead Soma out of the room for Sebastian.

"Come now, my prince. Let us go get lunch while he continues is hard work."

"…_Fine_." Soma mumbled while Agni easily walked him out from the room.

Sebastian sighed and went back to work. He shuffled through stacks of papers and signed documents for another good ten or so minutes before Drocell interrupted his work _again_. Without waiting for the knocking to finish as he invited him back inside.

"Drocell, come in."

Drocell only popped his head in, making a gesture for Sebastian to actually get out of his seat and see something. Sebastian rolled his eyes, following Drocell.

"Sebastian, you have a phone call."

"Who is calling?"

"…Grell."

"…What could he _possibly_ need at this moment from me?"

"He mentioned his co-worker and some accident…I think you should check it out."

"…Fine." Sebastian grumbled, picking back up the phone Drocell had received the phone call from.

Sebastian rubbed his temples, and held the phone to his ear.

"Grell."

"Sebas-chan!"

"…Make this quick, please."

"Oh, _fine_. I see someone's in a bad mood-"

"_Grell_."

"…Ok, ok…Do you remember when you came with that kid? You know, what's his face, Ciel."

"Right."

"Well, this woman I work with still feels really terrible about that accident with Ciel…so…She really wants to talk to you. She said she wants to apologize for everything, so she wanted me to ask you to go out with her and talk about it."

"_Pardon_?" Sebastian snapped.

"…I mean…tomorrow she's free at lunch…so…I-I…can tell her…to…"

"Fine. Tomorrow I'll pick her up at noon and we'll talk. No fooling around here, do you hear me?"

"Oh, goody! She'll be so excited. I'll let her know right away…"Grell said, his voice trailing off shortly before a loud click ended the call.

Sebastian took one last deep sigh. This day just wouldn't get any better, would it?

After an especially tense day at work Sebastian came to pick up Ciel after school. Oddly enough Ciel hopped down the stairs rather slowly, and his face looked a bit pale. Sebastian put his messenger bag away in the car for him, pulling him into a gentle embrace afterwards.

"You don't look so good; Ciel…is your stomach ok?"

"I'm just…tired." Ciel mumbled.

Once driven home, Ciel sat himself at the table as he usually did. However, after his snack he laid his head down to the table and sighed.

_Something_ was off.

"Are you sure you're ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Ciel said flatly, looking away.

"Ciel," Sebastian whispered in a low tone to Ciel, "You're not a good liar."

Ciel turned his head away, getting out of the chair like he was going to move around.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Really? Then tell me about your day. Did things go well with Maylene?"

Ciel whipped his head back around that time, a scowl staining his happy demeanor.

"No, it was _terrible._ I went alone to talk to her, and she went on to praise me on how well I was doing, but…but…it was so _wrong_. I mean, where I am now…_I_ didn't do a thing. _I_ shouldn't be praised." Ciel growled, his voice getting lower in tone, "_I_ should still be in the streets if it weren't for you, you know, so…I just…I…I couldn't get myself to ask her. _I_ wouldn't normally hang out with people, and _I _certainly wouldn't have friends, and…and…"

Sebastian immediately picked Ciel up from the ground, half putting Ciel over his shoulder. Ciel sniffled rather than crying, and wiggled into Sebastian.

"Shh…just relax," Sebastian cooed in a gentle voice, trying to slowly calm him down, "I understand that you are uncomfortable thinking about the past. I'm sure the transition was difficult for you, and maybe I can't make you completely comfortable here when you remember how things used to be, but…I'm here with you now. I promise I won't let anything happen to you."

Carefully Sebastian placed Ciel back on his feet after the sniffling ended. With one last planted kiss on Ciel's cheek, Sebastian backed off to give Ciel room-

He was fully aware what came next.

"I-idiot! You can quit that already!" Ciel scolded him, turning away and sheepishly moving himself away from Sebastian.

Ciel bounced back to his normal self later, only to start up his worrying again after his bath. He sat on the couch with Sebastian, but he looked troubled by something once more. Hoping to be of help again Sebastian ruffled his hair and nicely called out to him.

"Ciel?"

"…I didn't tell my friends about Maylene…I mean…this club stuff happened so fast that if I don't tell them about Maylene tomorrow…and…and even then, I agreed to the club too, so…I would be really disappointing them…"

"That's not true."

Ciel paused and looked at Sebastian cautiously.

"You think?"

"There's no need to be so hard on yourself. If you're not ready to start the club, I'm sure it's not going to break you from your friends…correct? Your friends will still be your friends, even if you don't hang out after school with them."

"…I see." Ciel said plainly, nodding along.

Taking the opportunity to sneak one last kiss from Ciel for the night, there was otherwise no more commotion from Ciel. The next morning for school Sebastian dropped Ciel at school to go his way while he drove himself to work. Once at work he made sure avoid Soma and Agni, along with now ignoring should Drocell knock at his door.

He _actually_ had work to do.

Luckily, he didn't have to turn down Drocell. Soma on the other hand, loudly passed by his office a few times but never really knocked on the door. This slightly more productive flow of work lasted until noon, where Sebastian had to take a break anyhow to visit Grell's co-worker. He didn't entirely pack up his things for the day since he still had to return to work afterwards.

Upon driving himself to Grell's workplace, he found both Grell and his co-worker already anticipating his arrival. Grell bounced about enthusiastically to see Sebastian while the co-worker looked more serious than even Sebastian.

"Sebas-chan!" Grell squealed, wiggling eagerly.

"Grell…and…co-worker."

"Angelina Durless." She asserted herself, putting a hand out to Sebastian for introduction.

Sebastian nodded, offering a hand out to show her to his car. Once to the car, he opened the door for her before driving them both out to eat-

Because if Sebastian had to sit down and talk with this lady, the least he could do was bring her out to eat should he have to make the talk unpleasant. Once seated at the fairly casual outdoor café, Angelina sat across the table from him cautiously.

"Thank you for your time, mister…?"

"You may call me Sebastian."

_Honestly speaking…_

Angelina nodded, rearranging her silverware nervously.

"Ah, well…thank you, Sebastian."

"You have no need to thank me, as I agreed simply out of curiosity to what your intentions may or might have been with him." Sebastian said in a smooth tone, but his slowly forming look of seriousness was telling a different story.

"Ah, yes. Well, I can explain…"

_I don't like her already._

Angelina cleared her throat and began. Sebastian would at least hear her out, if not to simply humor himself.

"You see, four years ago…there was a terrible fire. This fire happened in the household of my sister's, and so sadly in the process…both my sister and brother-in-law did not make it. Now, at that time they had a child. After the fire, I was unable to find my own precious nephew…I had thought he was killed too until I heard news of him in a Boys Home, but…I was too late. They told me he had disappeared," Angelina whispered in a low voice, "After his disappearance, I gave up hope in finding my own nephew…"

Sebastian resisted rolling his eyes at how cliché she was getting.

"And you're guessing I have _your_ Ciel, correct?"

"Well…yes. I have pictures-old, but family pictures of him if you'd like to see. I mean the chances of him being the same Ciel are odd, but…once I saw that boy I was sure it was him." Angelina said flatly, handing out an old picture to Sebastian.

Sebastian carefully accepted it, flipping it over for inspection. In the picture stood two young women-one clearly being Angelina with her short red locks, and the other one being the mother presumably-and one young man holding his young boy. The young man was assumingly the father in the picture, and the young boy in his arms-with the familiar grayish-blue locks and mismatched eyes had to be the son. As creepy as it was that the child in the picture resembled Ciel so much, there was also the slim possibility that perhaps she _did _have the correct Ciel.

"Look, it…"

"Looks a bit like him, sure." Sebastian finished for her.

"…May I ask your Ciel if…he is perhaps the same nephew of mine…?"

Sebastian paused and sighed. This woman had _nerve_ to ask after the previously unpleasant encounter between her and Ciel.

"Don't get ahead of yourself. Ciel already had one too many bad encounters with you, so if you think I'm about to let you see him right away-well, you are _sorely_ mistaken. I am Ciel's guardian, and I don't plan on having Ciel meet with you unless I am convinced. Am I understood?" Sebastian said in a firm tone, making his point as clear for her to see as he could.

Clearly she was taken aback, an obvious flinch from her.

"Oh, I…see. Well, that's very understandable so…if I give you a family picture can you at least ask him about it?" Angelina quietly asked, gesturing for Sebastian to hold onto the same family picture.

Sebastian shrugged and leaned back in his chair to put the picture away.

"Don't worry about it; I'll look into it my own way."

"…Well…ok. If you can, I would really like to know-and as Ciel's guardian, you would like to know too, right?" Angelina asked from him, a slight taunt in her voice.

She was aware Sebastian was interested in knowing.

With a small nod from Sebastian, they finally started to wrap things up. Sebastian dropped her back at her workplace before he drove himself back to work, where even there he had to put up with more nonsense-

After a few minutes back into working, Soma dropped by his office without knocking. Behind him Agni was trying to keep up, a small look of guilt on his face from not being able to at least make Soma use his manners. Sebastian looked up at him, but all his annoyance for the day had already been wasted on Angelina.

"Sebastian! I heard you went to see Grell. I thought…you weren't with him…" Soma poked at Sebastian.

"I went over for business."

"…Oh." Soma said quietly, his deflated posture aligning properly, "Good. I would hate to see you with that shark-toothed guy again."

Sebastian sighed and opened his mouth to ask Soma a question, had Soma not been satisfied with his previous answer. Soma walked himself to the door, guiding Agni hand-in-hand out.

"Come Agni, that's all."

"Very well." Agni said with one last sorry glance back at Sebastian.

Well now, as if Angelina proposing to be Ciel's aunt and Soma poking around in Sebastian's business wasn't enough for one day, he still had to finish work and pick up Ciel from school before going home and readying for bed. How fun.

After work Sebastian came by the school to collect Ciel. After waiting patiently around Ciel hopped down the stairs to meet Sebastian, his face not pale as last time. Ciel pushed his messenger bag into the car and took a hug from Sebastian minus any fuss.

"You look better today. Was your day…ok?"

"Oh, it was…fine."

After returning home, Ciel sat himself down at the table patiently. He slumped over a little and placed his head on the table, but he didn't look upset. Perhaps exhausted?

"I told them today. About not asking Maylene, you know. They weren't mad or anything."

"Then why do you still look down?"

Ciel sighed, shrugging a little.

"I don't know…" Ciel said quietly.

Sebastian walked over slowly, hugging Ciel from behind and balancing his chin atop Ciel's head.

"There's no need to worry…I'm right here."

"Idiot."

Sebastian sighed and quickly remembered the picture from Angelina. He let go of Ciel and checked his pockets for the picture.

"That reminds me; today I talked with the designer that you didn't get along with. She was trying to explain herself, and she gave me something to show you."

"…Sebastian, why would you do that?"

"I was curious why she wanted to talk to me so seriously," Sebastian said as he found the picture and held it away from Ciel, "I won't make you talk you her or anything, she just wanted to have you look at this picture. If you're not comfortable looking at it, I won't make you look at it…ok?"

Ciel cautiously took the picture.

"…I guess."

Ciel flipped over the picture, pausing to scan it carefully. His eyes ran over it multiple times before he frowned and looked away.

"Ciel."

Angelina was right.

Sebastian pulled Ciel in and patted his back.

"The designer…she's then…my…my aunt, so…so I…"

"It's ok…please relax."

"How can you be so calm, when I just…I mean, she's my aunt, so…so where would I…where would stay? She's a relative, but I…I don't want…with her, to live…" Ciel whined, flailing at Sebastian.

_How silly to think_…

"As I said, please relax. Her existence really isn't something to worry about." Sebastian said with a carefree tone, his lips twisting into a smile, "Regardless of whom she is, that by no means is reason enough for her to separate us."

Ciel blinked with an empty expression, moving himself closer.

"Really?"

Sebastian stifled a laugh, ruffling Ciel's hair through his fingers. Ciel made a small groan noise that nicely accompanied his sheepish blush.

"She couldn't take you away from me if she tried."

"You…you don't know how scary she can be."

"She doesn't intimidate me in the least."

"Well, she used to be a doctor, so…so you shouldn't make her mad or she might…like…pull out a scalpel and…and…"

Sebastian shushed Ciel gently, the soft contact between their lips replacing the need for words.

_That I'd ever give Ciel up._

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/ You would not believe the amount of rushing in between loads of work I had to do. I nearly had it ready this morning with only less than two hundred words left, and then…I had school.

I really tried to make sure this chapter sounded more on topic with the plot, (Because even though the last chapter was in the plot, it did seem a _bit_ different than what I had hoped it to be.) so if you find something very off again with this chapter, let me know and I can try to go back and fix it.

Anyhow, so in the story…Drocell seriously has OCD. (Symmetry obsessions with ordering, arranging and counting compulsions). And sure, anyone who heard the name Angelina Durless right away knew it was Madam Red. So I'm sorry to disappoint you if you didn't want her to be related.

And on another note, _no one_ correctly guessed the correct crack pairing that Pluto lives with. I will tell you this-it involves Undertaker. For those of you who _do_ think you know who he lives with, can you figure out the crack pairing for Madam Red next? (When I say crack pairing, don't try the internet because mine are unheard of-literally, I checked.) /


	17. Bold

Disclaimer; I do not own any part of Kuroshitsuji. Be warned, there is strong yaoi later on.

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The next morning arrived hastily, catching a still _very_ exhausted Ciel off guard before school. Sebastian nudged him around under the sheets, calling out for Ciel to wake up on time. Sluggishly Ciel crawled out of the covers and drowsily organized himself for school while Sebastian served up breakfast. After breakfast Sebastian locked the door behind them on the way out to school and then his own route to work.

Once at school Ciel leisurely walked himself to his first class only to find Alois already waiting for Ciel as usual at his desk behind Ciel's. Ciel waved before sitting himself down to settle his things in. Alois perked up and nearly lunged out of his seat to reach Ciel.

"Ciel~" Alois chimed, wiggling about excitedly.

"Good morning, Alois." Ciel countered as he slowly set up his desk.

Alois finally sprung out of his seat and danced around Ciel's side, swaying about happily.

"So, when are we having a sleep over?" Alois asked in his sweetest voice while leaning closely over Ciel's desk.

"Should I be concerned you're so eager…?"

"C'mon, you know it would be amazingly fun…" Alois whined, rubbing the side of his face intrusively against Ciel's.

Ciel jerked away, pushing Alois away firmly. Alois joked like this only sometimes, but it didn't come of much surprise to Ciel anymore. Every class period spent with Alois prepared him for that sort of thing.

"Alois, you oaf…" Ciel groaned as he pulled Alois off and straightened himself up.

Alois leaned back in his seat once returned to his proper place, humming for a short while. Abruptly he stopped and leaned forward to Ciel.

"Sebastian's the only one allowed to touch your face?" Alois whispered.

Ciel whipped his head around and gave Alois the deadliest glare.

"Alois."

"…So no face. Ok, I've got you…sort of…just not on the face." Alois whimpered, lowering his voice.

For the rest of class Alois kept his body to himself. He talked non-stop during class, so easily Alois had manages to bounce back. After class Alois trailed behind Ciel all the way to biology. In class Alois scooted his chair closer than it already was to Ciel around the table, and Ciel could have been thinking too much about it, but Alois nudged him with his shoulder a few times while they worked.

During lunch Ciel saw no subtle advances of Alois as they lounged against one of the hallway sides, eating normally together. Alois rarely looked over at Ciel, who half-way spaced out as he ate. Ciel noticed the rare glances over and stared back at Alois.

"You look so serious eating, Ciel. Is something up?" Alois asked in a low voice.

"I'm fine."

"Was I joking around too rough earlier?"

"I never said that."

"But your face says otherwise."

"Alois, I'm _fine_."

Alois crossed his arms and pouted at Ciel.

"…So you're really going to tell me you were fine when I was messing with you earlier?"

Ciel resisted shaking his head. He didn't entirely _like_ Alois touching him all over, even if it was part of how he normally was…

"…Yes." Ciel lied.

Alois smiled and tilted his head, coming closer to Ciel.

"You're such a bad liar. If you don't like it, don't say yes."

_Somehow after a short while-_

Ciel averted his once gaze with Alois, dodging anymore unwanted things to be said.

"You're allowed to be assertive. It really won't hurt my feelings."

"I…I don't…"Ciel quietly protested, being cut off by a nicely timed bell to signal the end of lunch.

As lunch ended Alois and Ciel made their way to NSL. Ciel started to take his things out from his bag again when Alois had more up his sleeve.

Somehow Ciel should have seen it coming.

"Ciel, I've figured out the solution to all your problems."

"Really now." Ciel said in an amused tone, his organizing paused just for this.

"Yes! I've come to the conclusion that your biggest flaw…"Alois put stretched out one arm and pointed, striking a determined pose for Ciel, "…is being too quiet. You always keep things in or don't say what you want to say."

_He reads me quite well._

Ciel sighed and rubbed his temples.

"And let me guess…the solution is something really obscure?"

"Oh no, not at all. I'm just going to have you practice being assertive, ok? Look, there's Pluto, he can help."

And on cue Pluto turned his head around and noticed both Ciel and Alois. Perhaps he had heard his name called?

"Hey guys, what's up?" Pluto asked cautiously.

"Ciel here needs your help; I'm trying to get him to be assertive."

Pluto's face lit up. Apparently he also thought Alois was up to planning something opaque.

"Oh, is that it? Well then, I guess I can help," Pluto said nonchalantly as he smiled, "I mean, Ciel _could_ be a little more assertive. If you're assertive rather than rude and demanding, you can surely get anything unlike Alois…"

"Yeah, Pluto's-…_excuse_ me?" Alois snapped.

"Well, I was…just using you as an example."

Alois pointed into Pluto's face, glaring his hardest.

"Ok, I've got something for _you_, Pluto…I haven't figured it out what it is but when I _do_…" Alois growled.

"Guys, you're sort of…off topic…"Ciel whispered from aside.

Alois sent Pluto one last glare. In response Pluto only calmly smiled and turned to face Ciel.

"Ok, so let's see…I'm going to offer you unpleasant things and you'll tell me no in an assertive, firm way. Got it?"

"I guess…"

Pluto casually posed himself and pointed to Alois.

"Ciel, you should help me beat up Alois."

"You better say no to that." Alois growled in a low tone from the sidelines.

"I…I'm not interested."

"Not your cup of tea? Then maybe you'd like to help me instead blackmail Alois."

"That sort of thing isn't for me…"

"C'mon, it would be tremendous fun."

"I really…can't…"

Pluto sighed, and for a split second Ciel swore he was dreaming-

Because Pluto was holding his face gently from underneath and giving him the gentlest, more adoring look…

This had _better_ be a dream.

"If you can't do anything else for me, Ciel, then I guess I can't eliminate Alois from coming between us…?"

Just as quickly as Ciel had been held by Pluto a nervous spasm came over him in a wave, jerking him abruptly back into the desk behind him.

"Ciel!"

"…Nice going, you killed him."

Alois and Pluto jumped to his aid, each shamefully residing at a separate side from the other. Once Ciel pulled himself up, he began rubbing the back of his head carefully.

"My head is _pounding_…"Ciel whined, glaring at both.

"No shit, you crashed your head backwards into a desk."

"Sorry, you weren't doing so well and I thought it would be easy to decline me…" Pluto apologized.

Ciel opened his mouth to warn both that they would _never_ try those methods again when a shriek sounded off suddenly.

Lizzie had arrived.

"Hey Ciel~" She chimed in her cutest voice.

"Well, fuck. There goes the moment." Alois grumbled under his breath.

"Lizzie…please not now…my head is pounding." Ciel calmly tried to quiet her.

"Ciel?" Lizzie gasped making a sharp noise, proving that only shrill noises could possibly escape her mouth.

Ciel sighed and held up a hand to Lizzie.

"Your voice is not helping right now, so _please_ stop talking."

"Ah, b-but…"

"As in now."

Lizzie recoiled like Pluto. Alois-

Well, he was more than enjoying himself to see Lizzie be told off by Ciel.

"Ciel, you are the best." Alois purred.

For the rest of class Lizzie avoided talking to Ciel, as if he had crushed her feelings. He hadn't meant to be so rude, but Lizzie really couldn't follow instructions well. For the next class Alois walked with Ciel to Study Hall rather than Lizzie even waiting to ask Ciel if he wanted to walk with her.

She was _definitely_ still angry.

In Study Hall Ciel sat himself at a desk next to Alois. Alois still smiled happily from the last class period with Lizzie while Ciel-

He shamefully laid his head on the desk. Alois jokingly poked him but he refused to budge.

"On the brightside, you can at least tell Lizzie off."

"That was an accident."

"But still…I mean, I guess you should try practicing being assertive…like at home, maybe?"

"I don't have anything to be assertive about."

Alois patted his head while leaning over Ciel.

"There has to be _something_ you don't want to do."

Ciel paused, looking back up at Alois.

_Now that I think about it…_

Something he _didn't_ want to do? Sebastian spoiled him, so what could he possibly be unhappy about? He already was happily with Sebastian, and it wasn't like he was going anywhere soon…right?

Madam Red really wouldn't be able to separate them-at least, according to Sebastian. And he was right _all_ the time, so…

Ciel rubbed his head and sat up. Alois crossed his arms, keeping his hands to himself.

"I mean…I think so."

"Good then! I want to know how it goes. That way, if it's a failure we can practice with Pluto again."

"Absolutely not!"

The rest of the class period went smoothly aside from Alois continuing to insist that Ciel follow through with his practice and Lizzie still ignoring Ciel. After school Ciel walked with Alois almost nearly to the entrance when Alois had to be picked up, his cellphone buzzing a warning in his pocket. Outside the building waited Sebastian by the bottom of the stairs, patiently as always for Ciel.

Ciel hopped back down the stairs to reach Sebastian, who surprisingly had no comments about hurrying home as Ciel lazily buried himself into Sebastian. Instead Sebastian placed his bag into the car for him, a smirk curling over his lips.

_I know what I want._

At home Ciel sat at the table after putting his things away while Sebastian prepared to serve him some sort of chocolate cake. Unusually slow at eating the snack this time around on purpose, Ciel saved a last bite of cake. He poked and pushed it around idly with his fork before looking over at a rather confused Sebastian.

"Hey Sebastian, have you ever tried your own sweets?"

Sebastian quirked his lips, amusement clearly filling him.

"Sweets are nice, but not something I eat a lot."

"That's a shame; I was saving this last bite for you." Ciel said quietly, impaling the bit of cake upon his fork.

Ciel gently held the fork above the plate and waved it at Sebastian. Sebastian walked himself over to the table as if he were about to collect Ciel's trash. Ciel defended his plate and offered the last bite to Sebastian.

"That's very considerate, but there's really no need for that."

"But Sebastian…" Ciel nearly whined in a small voice, waving the fork just a bit more until-

It fell. Of all places to fall the cake fell on Ciel's lap. Sebastian quickly fetched a wet rag to at least keep the chocolate from becoming a dry stain.

"Oh my, what a mess…"

"Sorry, I just thought…" Ciel whispered with disappointment, hoping it would have ended differently.

"It's not your fault."

Sebastian leaned over after pulling Ciel's chair out and trying to reach down to wet the possible stain. Ciel looked down at the chocolate stain and ran a finger through it lightly. It was still smooth and perhaps edible. Ciel peered back at Sebastian who continued to wet the stain.

Next he glanced at his chocolate covered finger. There was only one thing left to do as Ciel easily reached Sebastian's cheek and smeared the chocolate.

Sebastian _froze_.

"There's no point in wasting it…it tasted so good too…" Ciel murmured, his game of smearing chocolate actually turning quite amusing.

"Ciel, that's…that's…"

Ciel casually licked his finger clean and then gently licked Sebastian's cheek clean, having made the mess in the first place. Once finished he removed himself from the seat and left to get ready for a bath.

"I'd like to take a bath and get out of my school clothes, if you could help with the water after you're done?" Ciel inquired as he turned back to find a still slightly shaken Sebastian.

Having taken a nice long bath to clean himself off from whatever had touched him over the course of the day, Ciel returned from the bathroom to find Sebastian sitting on the couch. Curiously he poked his head around the couch and found Sebastian sitting normally, reading a book for once. As he approached Sebastian, Sebastian lowered his book.

"All clean?"

"Yeah…And what about you-you're reading?"

"It's a good book that I haven't finished, so…"

Ciel nodded along slowly as he seated himself upon the couch too. Sebastian eyed him as if he would test him again, but this time Ciel only went with sitting closer to Sebastian. Once close to Sebastian he wriggled himself into the lap of Sebastian, who seemed less concerned about Ciel sitting in his lap.

"You're very sensual today, you know." Sebastian whispered over to Ciel, sliding one hand upon Ciel's stomach as a resting place.

"Well, I wasn't really-ah...that...mm..."

Ciel could barely protest with Sebastian gently rubbing his stomach, between the warm fingertips running along his sensitive skin and the smooth circular movements. Ciel felt himself becoming drowsy, a wave of warmth flooding his body urging him to sleep while his throat gave out soft noises.

"Mm…ah…mmm…" Ciel whimpered softly, as if having cuddled into Sebastian wasn't giving him enough heat to drive him crazy…

And then it stopped.

Ciel's eyes snapped open as he turned his head and glared at Sebastian. The entire belly rubbing just for Sebastian to end it like _that_?

"I can't flip the pages very well with just one hand."

"You're mean…"Ciel growled, giving a sharp nip to Sebastian's neck.

"_I'm_ mean, huh?" Sebastian countered, laying down his book slowly and freeing both hands, "You have been nearly taunting me since you dropped the cake."

Ciel rolled his eyes and looked away.

"I wasn't trying to, I just…" Ciel quietly drifted his sentence off, his face burning up as he looked sheepishly back at Sebastian, "I…I…you…"

_But since I already have the one thing I want the most-_

Sebastian leaned forward and kissed Ciel's forehead slowly before beginning a slow detouring trail from his cheek down to his shoulder. Ciel turned his head away, giving Sebastian a few more kisses to plant. He shyly tried to glance over after a short while but Sebastian swiftly met his lips, posing a possible warning.

Ciel pulled back and feebly recovered.

Sebastian, being the next one to move promptly cupped Ciel's mouth and guided him forward for another kiss. This time Ciel took a few seconds to get back into it with Sebastian dominating the kiss by a long shot. Ciel remembered kissing in a similar way one time, but otherwise…he really wasn't too sure about kissing. His tongue made contact in short and clumsy pushes with Sebastian's, but that was just about all he could manage before they pulled apart again.

Ciel slowed his breathing and glanced away, each time after a kiss turning into a case of hit and run eye contact. Ciel leaned forward to start Sebastian when Sebastian gently eased Ciel down and onto the couch, leaving him to lay on his back with Sebastian propped up over him.

_I should just try to relax…_

Sebastian leaned forward and placed a light kiss upon Ciel's cheek as he turned his head away. He tried to simply avoid kisses from Sebastian at an awkward angle by turning his head, but no luck. Sebastian continued the trail of kisses once more with a momentary break in between for Ciel, who gave up turning away and stared at Sebastian expectantly.

This kissing was getting a tad out of hand. If it kept up, it could lead to something serious.

And if they did something serious…

Ciel would have to bother taking another bath.

Sebastian smiled and planted a soft kiss on Ciel's forehead, as if he were reading Ciel's worries and thoughts. Ciel rolled his eyes and took ahold of the light fabric Sebastian wore, gripping firmly onto the back. Sebastian chuckled and leaned all the way forward to lock Ciel into another kiss.

Well, as long as Sebastian knew what he was getting into…

_And let things take their own course._

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/ If it makes you feel better about the most delayed chapter for Loot, my eyes are burning a bit, so…D:

But I promise I was actually being productive. I found chapters of Killing Time that I had started and not finished, so it looks like I'll have something up for that later (in an irrelevant note). Plus, I have other stories I want to start but I can't until the end of Killing Time. Dx

I feel…like this chapter was worded a little odd, so if you spot anything really odd or off balance let me know. (I tried for a slightly more firm Ciel, and a bit of fluff, so please excuse me if it ruined the chapter…) /


	18. Trying New Things

Disclaimer; I do not own any part of Kuroshitsuji. Be warned, there is strong yaoi later on.

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A mix of choppy breaths and groans filled the room.

With a firm clasp of Sebastian's clothes between his petit fingers, Ciel easily had tangled himself below Sebastian. Sebastian's mouth broke off against Ciel's once more, firmly sliding his hands along the sides of Ciel, guiding his body down into the couch rather than allowing room for shifting around dramatically.

Ciel stared back up at Sebastian. He was panting a tad, but his serious grip to Sebastian's shirt insisted he was fine. A small sigh escaped Sebastian's lips as he kissed Ciel's cheek.

He had barely even started and Ciel was already so worked up.

Carefully Sebastian slipped a hand beneath the hem of Ciel's night clothes, moving slowly up as to avoid catching Ciel off guard. Every couple movements forward Sebastian paused to look at Ciel, who still remained short on breath.

"Ciel, may I…?" Sebastian whispered, his fingers dancing eagerly upon the smooth skin.

Ciel nodded quietly, breathing slower.

He had good idea what Sebastian was ready to do.

Sebastian leaned forward and eased both hands under Ciel, cradling him forward for a brief kiss. Ciel was moved effortlessly, arching with minor help from Sebastian's support. Ciel weakly pressed his lips out gracelessly expecting Sebastian's to match up.

"I'll be much gentler this time," Sebastian cooed, leaving a last kiss upon Ciel before laying him back down to the couch.

Once having placed Ciel back down comfortably Sebastian unbuttoned Ciel's night shirt swiftly, as not to break any buttons in the process. A few times Ciel looked back up at Sebastian, a complete look of daze. Sebastian would have been concerned about checking on him if there wasn't a bead or two of drool escaping the corner of his mouth.

He _was_ enjoying it after all.

Sebastian smiled and put his hands out flat across Ciel's stomach to sweep apart the two halves of his night shirt. He probably wasn't imagining it, but Ciel squirmed a little as his fingers brushes over his skin. It was teasing to touch over Ciel just for the reaction, but…

"Sebas…ti..._tian_…" Ciel whimpered out as Sebastian slowly reached to remove Ciel's underwear.

Sebastian paused.

Of all the slow processes to be doing, this had to be _the_ worst.

He removed his underwear and placed it aside, not caring if it had landed in the floor or couch. Then he had to unzip his pants, shedding off meticulously his own trousers. Sebastian supported Ciel's back with both hands and pulled him closer, hooking Ciel's legs weakly around his waist. Ciel gave off soft noises, his body slithering just a little side to side.

"Easy now," Sebastian told him softly, coating his own fingers with a slippery layer of saliva.

As expected, Ciel still wiggled a bit. Sebastian opened his mouth to assure Ciel the discomfort would subside-

"Mm…ah…ah-_ah …ngh…ah…!_" Ciel buried his head back into the couch, his body arching with the slightest hint of shudders.

_Had_ of course, Ciel been experiencing discomfort.

Sebastian gently stretched around Ciel, making sure to prepare him thoroughly even in the case of not being rough with Ciel again. Once done Sebastian removed his fingers promptly and slowly eased himself within. Ciel breathed slower for a short while, his breath hitching momentarily as Sebastian fully went. With a pause Sebastian looked back at Ciel.

His cheeks had completely become flushed, breathing uneven, and his lower half whined urgency if Ciel had not already vocalized enough. Sebastian reached over and stroked Ciel's cheek, a burning feeling sparking under his fingertips.

"It doesn't hurt too much, does it…Ciel?"

"No, it…it feels…" Ciel mumbled and turned his cheek to Sebastian's hand, "…it feels good."

Sebastian nodded and leaned forward, leaving a quick kiss on Ciel's cheek before he started to move. One of his hands held Ciel's hips aligned while his free hand laced with Ciel's, Ciel's much smaller fingers gripping firmly to Sebastian. As Sebastian began to move, it was a slow and easy-going manner. He moved out leisurely, no rush to roughly move back in. Ciel-

He didn't seem to mind in the least. His back arched off the couch and his head buried back into the couch, a gaze of ecstasy matched with drool slipping from his mouth again.

"Ciel….I…" Sebastian groaned, the slow setting getting the better of him too.

"Ha…ah…ah…_ah…ngh…mm…_" Ciel whined, his voice hitching a few times.

Sebastian smirked. Why on earth he hadn't tried going slower with Ciel the first time? He leaned forward to Ciel, his mouth open to say something-

And of course, with now _officially_ the worst timing so far, the door was being knocked. Pausing quietly both stopped and glared in disbelief at the door.

"You're kidding me." Sebastian groaned, dropping his head in slight defeat.

"…Sebastian. Don't…" Ciel weakly tried propping himself before reaching up to Sebastian and latching one hand on one of the longer side strands to Sebastian's hair, "…you _dare_."

Sebastian winced in sharp pain, immediately trying to pluck Ciel's hand away from his hair.

"Calm down, please."

"It's probably Grell." Ciel snapped, pulling his hand back from Sebastian.

"I'm sure, and he-…Ciel?"

Ciel turned his head away from Sebastian.

"…Sebastian…I want…_this_ with you and…so…" Ciel growled in a low voice, burying his face sideways into the couch to disguise a pair of flushed cheeks.

Sebastian reached out a hand and rubbed Ciel's cheek, the delicate skin burning under his fingertips.

"…I understand." Sebastian whispered, positioning Ciel with his hands back into the previously undisturbed position.

Ciel mumbled something inaudible, sounding similar to 'idiot' between frustrated slurs. Sebastian cradled Ciel forward and planted a few kisses, hoping to calm a very agitated Ciel. It worked, Ciel letting out a deflated sigh as the final kiss made its way curiously to Ciel's lips.

Moving back into motion slowly, Sebastian groaned quieter with the knowledge someone might still be at the door. Ciel on the other hand seemed to quickly forget the presence of anyone at the door, his arching off the couch starting up again.

"_Ah…ah…mm…ngh…ngh…_" Ciel whimpered, his voice nearly hitching once more.

Sebastian held to Ciel and laid Ciel back into the couch, raising Ciel's hind end to a better angle up as he leaned forward instead to move. He re-hooked Ciel's leg around his waist and moved slowly, and Ciel now able to hold around Sebastian's neck grasped out and clung. Ciel holding onto to Sebastian proved to be little hindrance, and a few slower but slightly stronger moves proved to be enough to nearly push Ciel over the edge.

Ciel futilely arched from the couch to a low height, Sebastian being quite the difficult obstacle to hold onto and arch off of at the same time. He dug his nails into Sebastian while burying his head into Sebastian's shoulder as a wave of shudders came over him, a pearly string weeping from Ciel below region.

Ciel huffed out a heavy sigh and collapsed again Sebastian.

Sebastian only chuckled and rubbed his back with one hand, the other supporting him. Then Sebastian laid Ciel down to the couch, cupping the side of his face as he remembered to clean up. Ciel weakly glanced back, turning his cheek into Sebastian's hand.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah…"Ciel mumbled, exhaust obvious in his tone.

Sebastian smiled and pulled Ciel up to sitting, resting him against his chest casually. Ciel lazily reclined into Sebastian even as Sebastian tried to pick him up actually off the couch and to bed. With slight difficulty Sebastian carried Ciel off the couch and bridal style after fixing his attire for bed to his room. He tucked Ciel under the covers and perched himself on the edge of the bed.

"I'll be back, ok?" Sebastian whispered with a gentle ruffle to Ciel's hair, focusing outside of the room.

"Sebastian…?"

Sebastian turned and gave Ciel a kiss on the forehead after fixing his ruffled hair on his way out the bedroom. Before leaving he turned back and waited for Ciel to settle in.

"It won't take me long."

Hoping for Ciel to fall asleep, Sebastian closed the door slowly and quietly behind him. Next he made his way to the door after ensuring his own attire was back in order. He composed himself quietly and reached for the door-

And surprisingly enough, it wasn't Grell.

It was much worse.

"Angelina…you're…here…?" Sebastian disbelievingly asked, knowing that there was no way she could have found his address except through Grell.

"Oh, so you _are_ awake-!" Angelina nearly yelled in a loud voice as Sebastian tried to shush her in the nicest way.

"You have to be quiet; I just put Ciel to bed." Sebastian whispered, motioning for her to lower her voice.

"Oh-_oh_…sorry. I just…I heard the message you left and I…I felt the need to see Ciel…"

"I'm sorry but now…is not the best time. Instead …" Sebastian looked off to where Ciel's unused room was, and then back at her, "I'll tell you what. Visit tomorrow."

_I haven't started to trust her-_

Angelina sniffled and bent over, graciously bowing her head at Sebastian.

"You don't know how much this means to me…I…my only nephew is finally…" Angelina sniffled out most of her words, making the rest inaudible to even Sebastian.

_I don't want Ciel to completely lose his family._

Angelina nodded and made her way to the door, waving farewell finally.

"I…I should be going, so…I'll see you tomorrow, right?"

"Ok, maybe around…4 or 5 when we have dinner."

"Ok, I'll be there!"

And with that, Angelina left. Sebastian was still slightly taken aback at whatever more of a mess he had created with Angelina.

Surely he could handle any sort of mess, right…?

The next morning ran smoothly with Ciel waking up after minimal reminder. Sebastian readied breakfast as Ciel got himself ready for school. After breakfast Sebastian jokingly felt up to sneaking a quick kiss to Ciel, who stood in place and sheepishly accepted it with new insults. Afterwards Sebastian drove him and Ciel off their separate ways.

At work, Sebastian sat around at his desk and breezed through paperwork at his desk for most of the day. The only true break in his work was when interrupted by Soma, who _still_ was hanging around his workplace.

"Sebastian, phone call. A pretty lady's on the phone for you~" Soma chimed teasingly, poking his head into Sebastian's office.

Sebastian looked up from his work. Not only had he not even heard the door open, but there was Soma delivering news that Drocell normally would.

"Soma…why are you answering my phone? Where's Drocell?"

"Oh, he…left early. He didn't look so good."

Sebastian rubbed his temples before pulling out his chair so he could get up. He had a bad feeling it was Angelina Durless calling. Once out from his seat he made his way to Drocell's desk and picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

Much to his disappointment, he was right.

"Sebastian? Oh good, I thought I might have the wrong number."

"Is something wrong?"

"Oh, no. I was making sure we're still up for tonight."

"Yes, we are. Are you perhaps…nervous?"

There was a pause over the line.

"No, not at all! I'm very…very excited. I can't wait to see him and…and…am I allowed to hug him?"

Good thing Angelina couldn't see Sebastian right then. He crossed his arms and glared at the phone with annoyance.

"We'll see."

"Oh, you don't know how much this means to me!"

Sebastian started to say one last piece of advice, but it was too late. Angelina had eagerly hung up.

Walking back to his office, Sebastian passed Soma. Soma idly sat around at a desk and waved, seeing as there wasn't much he could do since he wasn't actually an employee of any sort.

"Who was it Sebastian?"

"No one."

"Does this no one have a name?" Soma asked probingly.

"This no one has a name but it's unimportant."

Sebastian peered over at Soma who in defeat dropped his head to the desk.

"Such a killjoy." Soma grumbled.

Following work Sebastian waited patiently ahead of time outside school for Ciel. In a matter of minutes, out popped Ciel who hopped down the stairs and approached the car, stuffing his belongings inside. Sebastian quietly pulled Ciel into a hug before starting up the car, seeing as Ciel looked ready to return home. Finally at home Sebastian prepared a snack for Ciel, who sat at the table and peacefully ate without any tricks up his sleeve. When he finished eating Sebastian went on with his own business, washing the dishes and doing laundry when he felt Ciel attached to him from behind.

"Ciel?"

"I…thought that…maybe yesterday wasn't…bad so maybe…we could…um…"

Sebastian glanced back and smiled.

"You don't need permission to cuddle."

"Idiot…" Ciel growled, weakly latching onto Sebastian.

Sebastian chuckled a little and continued doing dishes. He carried on casually with his dishes until Ciel let go, curiously making him turn and watch as Ciel sheepishly tried to carry on normally. Ciel sat himself down at the couch and turned on the TV, flipping through channels as Sebastian worked on laundry. As he finished the rest of the laundry Sebastian moved around the couch to sit again with Ciel-

And there went off the knocking on the door again, right as Sebastian was in the middle of something. He stood up and approached the door, expecting it to be Angelina.

"I'll get it." Sebastian said across the room, glancing back at a startled Ciel.

But upon allowing Angelina inside, things already started to go downhill.

First, she spotted Ciel on the couch and attempted to get closer. Second, Ciel got up off the couch hastily as if he'd dash off to _anywhere_ but close to her. Third, Angelina misinterpreted Ciel and came in closer.

"Ciel, you…"

Bad move of course.

Ciel scurried to hide behind Sebastian, leaving Sebastian in the middle of their awkward first reunion. Sebastian clasped his hands together and stared back to Ciel, hoping to resolve the tension.

"I guess…it's time for dinner."

Having pulled a chair out from one of Sebastian's many spare rooms; Angelina sat at the table while Sebastian prepared dinner. Ciel stuck by Sebastian's side naturally rather than waiting at the table with Angelina, so a few times Sebastian turned and looked over to check on her as she sat alone. When nearly done setting the table and preparing dinner Sebastian pulled Ciel aside politely.

"I realize you don't like this Ciel…so…" Sebastian patted Ciel's head and sneakily whispered closely, "…I'll make you a deal. If you're on your best behavior, I'll take a bath with you when she leaves."

"You're kidding…?" Ciel asked in partial disbelief.

"Is that a no?"

"No, I…it's fine." Ciel mumbled quickly, taking his seat at the table.

For dinner, all three sat down together to eat for the most part in silence-

After all, Sebastian and Ciel usually ate dinner in silence. With Angelina present, Ciel was all the more likely to _not_ talk during dinner. A few glances were shared, but overall there wasn't talking…

"Ciel…I was wondering what plans you two have for this weekend because if it was ok with you two…I have a lot of catching up to do." Angelina piped in as she ate.

Or at least, there shouldn't have been for a reason. Ciel turned and looked at her with a stern expression.

"We're busy." Ciel said flatly.

"With what?"

"We're going to the park and then spending a day inside together."

"Ah, well I…I mean…is there any way I can tag along, Sebastian?"

Ciel glared over at Sebastian, something Angelina completely looked past.

"I'll have to get back to you."

Following dinner Angelina helped Sebastian clean up. After which Angelina prepared to leave, with of course one more shot at getting a hug from Ciel. Ciel looked over between Sebastian and Angelina as if deciding whether it was worth it to give in. Sebastian lowered his chin down at an angle, giving Ciel an expectant look.

_I might have to ease Ciel into it…_

Ciel huffed out a sigh and gave her a painfully unwanted hug on her way out as she waved bye finally. Once Angelina was finally gone, Ciel waited by the front door almost like he had spaced out. Sebastian laughed a little and crossed his arms expectantly.

Aside from Ciel acting out just a tad, he had kept his end for the most part…

"Ciel."

Ciel perked up at his name and whipped his head around to find Sebastian. Spotting Sebastian Ciel followed like a baby duckling behind him, eagerly peeking ahead to where he was directing him-the bathroom. Ciel tilted his head to the side, not understanding. The water was ready, he hadn't grabbed his night clothes, and Sebastian remained in the bathroom. Something in his head wasn't clicking quite yet.

Sebastian unbuttoned down a few holes on his shirt and glanced over to Ciel.

"You coming in?"

And then it must have clicked because his cheeks flushed red and his mouth formed a clumsy 'o' on his scrambling way out from the bath room to fetch his things. By the time Ciel returned Sebastian was already waiting in the bath for him, as promised. Ciel skittishly edged himself into the bathroom and in a more reserved manner crawled into the tub with Sebastian.

Ciel easily pushed through the water and Sebastian both to sprawl himself against his chest, lounging casually. Sebastian chuckled ruffling his hair, slicking the bluish-gray locks together in a wet mess. Ciel ignored him, curling himself comfortably in the tub.

"Sebastian?"

"Yes?"

"You're not going to actually invite her, are you?"

"Perhaps."

Ciel glanced back at Sebastian with a gloomy look. He didn't want her tagging along just as much.

"But she'll find out about us."

Sebastian cupped the side of Ciel's face, planting a kiss upon his cheek.

"You don't have to worry about her finding out." Sebastian assured Ciel, placing his forehead to Ciel's.

_It's not like she'll really change anything between us._

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/ Here you go the latest update yet…

I've never started a chapter with a lemon, so hopefully it's ok. Plus, I tried to make it close to a lovemaking scene with all the kissing…slowness…and more enjoying of it. I mean, I hope I'm not too off with that. /


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